>'^R 


>  /'< 


¥?«^ 


t-'S^ 


^>' 


"1  <(v.   -^        V^ 


^i^ 

?\'>- 


s*~^' 


;^\ 


^«^:^^§s».^^^i^^^^y5>ssv-£s.t-B£ii^^^^i^ssMJ^^ 


L  T  B  R  A^  R  Y 


Theological     Seminary 

PRINCETON,     N.    J. 


Shelf 
Boo/.- 


BX  9848  .M64  1876 
Miller,  Matthew  R 
The  luminous  unity 


THE 


LUMINOUS  UNITY, 


LETTERS  ADDRESSED  TO  THE  REV.  A.  GUINZBURG, 

A    RABBI    OF    BOSTON,  MAg;?^  FROM    THE 

REV.  MATTHEW    R.  MILLER, 


ON   THE   QUESTION, 


IS  UNITARIANISM,  AS  OPPOSED  TO  TRINITARIANISM, 

A  PRINCIPLE  OF  HEATHENISM 

RATHER  THAN  OF  SPECIFIC  JUDAISM? 


:  inx  I  nin>  •irn'?^  riin>  htjf\p'i  yiivf 


"Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me." — Yeshua  ha  Notseri. 
"  For  had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me  :  for  he  wrote  of  me.' 
-Yeshua  ha  Notseri. 
"The  Comforter  is  in  the  sacred  volume." — John  Quincv  Adams. 


SECOND  EDITION. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &     CO, 
1876. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  t>y 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


Lippincott's   Press, 
Philadelphia. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction S 

LETTER    I. 
The  Plurality  of  the  Divine  Name  Adonai       .....        9 

LETTER    IL 
The  Trinitarian  Character  of  the  Tetragrammaton  ....       19 

LETTER    IIL 

"  Declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  Power, — by  the  Resurrection 
from  the  Dead"     ..........       46 

LETTER    IV. 

The  Plurality  of  the  Divine  Name  Elohim  (God)     ....       60 

LETTER    V. 

Unitarianism  more  Mohammedan  than  either  Christian  or  Jewish  .       71 

LETTER    VI. 

Trinitarianism  as  a  Practical  Doctrine — The  Trinitarian  Relations  of 
Faith,  Hope,  and  Love 86 

LETTER    VI  L 
Analysis  of  the  First  Chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews     .         .     113 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

LETTER    VIII. 

PAGE 

Tlie  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  the  True  Exponent  of  Ancient  Judaism     138 

LETTER    IX. 
General  Review  of  the  Argument — Objections  answered  .         .     167 

LETTER    X. 
The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  his  Word, — Isa.  lix.  21  .         .         .         .     189 

APPENDIX. 
A  Dissertation  on  the  Book  of  Job 219 

Questions  designed  to  assist  in  the  Study  of  the  Foregoing  Letters     234 
We  Pass  Away 259 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  following  letters  originated  in  a  plan  that  Dr. 
Guinzburg  and  myself  should  write  letters  on  the  subject 
of  unitarianism,  one  for  it  and  the  other  against  it ;  that 
our  letters  should  be  equal  in  number,  and  should  be 
published  both  in  The  Israelite,  of  Cincinnati,  and  The 
Episcopalian^  of  Philadelphia.  The  first  five  of  the  fol- 
lowing letters  appeared  in  The  Israelite,  with  as  many 
letters  in  reply  to  them.. 

These  five  are  here  somewhat  changed  and  enlarged  ; 
and  five  others  are  added.  This  is  done  partly  out  of 
deference  to  the  strongly  expressed  wish  of  the  rabbi 
that  this  discussion  should  not  stop,  and  partly  because  I 
have  been  pursuing  the  subject  with  increasing  interest 
and  rapture;  and  I  trust  that  a  good  service  will  be  accom- 
plished in  rendering  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  much 
clearer  to  many  Christian  minds  and  highly-educated  in- 
tellects than  it  now  is. 

The  arguments  in  these  letters  can  be  very  successfully 
followed  by  one  who  is  not  acquainted  with  the  original 
languages  of  the  Bible ;  but  such  a  reader  will  find  the 
study  rendered  much  more  easy  if  he  will  here  carefully 
impress  on  his  memory  the  following  verses,  as  they  here 
receive  a  rendering  nearer  to  the  original  text  than  they 
have  in  the  Authorized  Version,  and  a  i^w  explanations  of 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

words.  The  memory  ought,  at  the  start,  to  have  a  com- 
plete possession  of  the  following  items. 

Deut.  vi.  4:  "Hear,  O  Israel:  Jehovah  our  Elohim  is 
one  Jehovah." 

The  Divine  naine  here  occurring  twice  is  the  tetra- 
grammaton ;  and  such  is  its  supreme  holiness  that  no 
strictly  pious  Jew  ever  reads  it  aloud.  It  is  never  pro- 
nounced in  the  synagogue. 

Gen.  XV.  2  :  "And  Abram  said,  AJonai,  Jehovah,  what 
wilt  thou  give  me,  seeing  I  go  childless?" 

Gen.  xviii.  1-4:  "And  Jehovah  appeared  to  him  in 
the  plains  of  Mamre :  and  he  sat  in  the  tent  door  in  the 
heat  of  the  day.  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  looked, 
and,  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him  ;  and  when  he  saw,  he 
ran  to  meet  them  from  the  tent  door,  and  bowed  himself 
toward  the  ground,  and  said,  Adonai,  if  now  I  have 
found  favor  in  thine  eyes,  pass  thou  not  away  from  thy 
servant.  Let  now  a  little  water  be  fetched,  and  wash  ye 
your  feet,  and  rest  ye  under  the  tree." 

Ex.  vi.  2,  3:  "And  God  spake  unto  Moses,  and  said 
unto  him,  I  am  Jehovah.  And  I  appeared  unto  Abraham, 
unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob  by  El  Shaddai,  and  by  my 
name  J^ehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them," 

Ex.  iii.  13,  14:  "And  they  shall  say  to  me,  What  is 
his  name  ?  what  shall  I  say  unto  them  ? 

"And  God  said  unto  Moses,  /  will  be  that  I  tvill  be : 
and  he  said,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  I  will  be  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 

Ex.  XV.  2  :   "  My  strength  and  song  is  Jah." 

Ex.  xvii.  16:  "And  he  said,  that,  the  hand  being  on 
the  throne  of  Jah,  war  is  to  Jehovah  against  Amalek  from 
generation  to  generation." 

Ex.  xxxiv.  6:  "And  Jehovah  jiassed  by  before  him, 
and    proclaimed,    Jehovah,    Jehovah,    El,    merciful    and 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and 
truth;  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity 
and  transgression  and  sin." 

Solomon's  Song  viii.  6:    "A  vehement  flame  of  Jab." 

Zech.  xiv.  9  :  "And  Jehovah  shall  be  King  over  all  the 
earth  ;  in  that  day  Jehovah  shall  be  one,  and  his  name 
one." 

El,  a  name  in  the  singular  number,  translated,  God. 

Shaddai,  also  of  the  singular  number,  translated,  Al- 
mighty. 

Eloah,  another  word  of  the  singular  number,  trans- 
lated, God. 

Elohim,  properly  the  plural  of  Eloah,  is  of  very 
common  use,  being  generally  the  original  word  where 
"God"  is  in  the  translation. 

The  questions  at  the  close  may  be  useful  to  classes  or 
students  who  have  selected  the  book  for  a  careful  study. 

Recently,  an  Israelite  in  England,  after  he  had  pub- 
lished some  articles  against  Christianity,  wished  to  resume 
the  subject,  and  gave  the  following  reasons,  among  others. 
His  article  appeared  in  the  ycwish  Chronicle,  which,  I 
suppose,  is  published  in  London.  The  following  is  an 
extract : 

"  Some  of  our  Christian  opponents  will  not,  however, 
admit  that  they  have  made  any  attack  upon  us,  nor  allow 
that  the  controversy  which  we  are  engaged  in  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  war :  they  prefer  to  regard  it  as  a  debate 
of  friends  in  council,  who  are  earnestly  seeking  after  light 
and  truth.  They  assure  us  that  they  do  not  come  among 
us  to  annoy  us  with  their  arguments  and  cause  dissension 
in  our  families ;  they  are  only  actuated  by  a  generous 
desire  to  promote  our  welfare  and  guide  us  into  the  way 
of  salvation.  Very  good  :  we  will  accept  the  sincerity  of 
their  declaration,  and  are  quite  disposed  to  meet  them  in 


8  *  INTRODUCTION. 

this  way.  We  will  not  regard  them  as  enemies,  but  as 
mistaken  friends.  Our  controversy  shall  be  not  a  hostile 
conflict,  but  an  amicable  conference;  and  thus  the  objec- 
tion to  it  which  has  been  advanced  by  the  upholders  of 
peace  and  harmony  cannot  possibly  have  any  force.  It 
is  true  that  any  discussion  whatever,  conducted  in  a  bad 
spirit,  and  from  which  more  heat  than  light  is  produced, 
may  be  wisely  hushed  ;  but  when  men  reason  calmly  with 
a  sincere  desire  to  remove  misunderstandings  on  each  side 
and  arrive  at  the  truth,  they  cannot  fail  to  obtain  some 
good  result ;  and  those  who  would  arrest  their  well- 
directed  efforts  must  clearly  be  acting  from  ignorance 
and  timidity.  Honest  argument,  by  conveying  knowl- 
edge from  mind  to  mind,  awakening  reflection,  and 
demonstrating  that  there  is  more  than  one  side  to  every 
question,  so  far  from  causing  or  prolonging  human  quar- 
rels, is  the  only  means  of  bringing  them  to  a  satisfactory 
close.  Friendly  controversy  is  the  best  reconciler  and 
peacemaker  that  we  have  in  the  world." 

I  look  on  this  extract  as  a  choice  gem  set  in  my  Intro- 
duction. M.   R.   M. 


THE  LUMINOUS  UNITY. 


Is  Unifarianism,  as  opposed  to  Triiiitarianism,  a  Principle  of 
Heathenism  rather  than  of  Specific  Judaism  ? 

LETTER   I. 

Esteemed  Friend  : —  '' 

If  I  remember  correctly,  it  was  once  written  by  you, 
and  published,  that  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  Trinitarians  view  them,  are  as  foreign  to  genuine  Juda- 
ism as  are  the  false  deities  of  Olympus.  Maimonides,  I 
suppose,  has  said  just  the  same  thing ;  for  we  find  in  the 
Talmud,  the  Amsterdam  edition,  in  his  comment  on  the 
Mishna,  at  the  close  of  Abodah  Zarah,  the  following 
memorable  sentiment :  ^^  And  know,^'  says  he,  "  that  this 
people  who  go  astray  after  y^esus,  even  though  their  laws 
are  different,  all  of  them  are  the  worshipers  of  idols,  and 
their  festivals  all  of  them  are  forbidden,  atid  it  is  proper  to 
behave  ourselves  towards  them  according  to  our  rules  of 
behavior  towards  the  worshipers  of  idols. ' ' 

I  desire  most  respectfully  to  say  to  you  that  this  opin- 
ion of  Christianity  appears  to  me  severe ;  and  I  would  ask 
if  it  ought  not  to  give  way,  in  this  age,  to  a  view  more 
charitable.  It  is,  most  assuredly,  an  opinion  both  ex- 
tremely uncharitable  and  essentially  untruthful,  if  it  can 
be  proved  that  the  great  watchword  of  Israel,  the  Shemah 
Yisrael,  that  verse  which  you  consider  the  most  weighty 
and  sublime  in  the  Bible  and  in  all  your  liturgy  (Deut.  vi. 
4) — '^  Hear,  O  Israel :  the  Lord  our  God  is  the  Lord  otie'^ 


lo  THE   PLURALITY 

— both  sustains  and  expresses  trinitarianisrn  equally  with 
the  unity  of  God.*  I  propose  to  address  some  letters  to  you 
on  this  point  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  expecting  that 
both  your  letters  and  mine  will  be  published  in  two  reli- 
gious papers,  The  Israelite  and  The  Episcopaliaii.  I  will 
first  invite  your  attention  to  the  Divine  name  Adonai, 
which  occurs  twice  in  the  public  reading  of  this  text  as 
the  substitute  of  the  tetragrammaton,  and  which  is  uttered 
so  very  frequently  in  the  public  worship  of  the  synagogue, 
and  With  such  emphasis,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  reading 
of  the  psalm, I — ''The  voice  of  Adonai  is  upon  the 
waters,"  "The  voice  of  Adonai  is  powerful,"  —  "The 
voice  of  Adonai  is  full  of  majesty," — "The  voice  of 
Adonai  divideth  the  flames  of  fire," — "The  voice  of 
Ado7iai  shaketh  the  wilderness," — that  any  stranger 
having  witnessed  the  service  once  may  well  make  it  his 
first  question,  afterwards,  what  Adonai  means,  which  ap- 
peared to  be  resounding  through  all  the  service.     I  will 

*  One  anecdote  is  too  interesting  to  be  omitted.  It  is  one  of  the  many 
incidents  told  to  Dr.  Bonar  while  he  was  in  Jerusalem  for  a  few  days.  It 
occurred  there.  "  One  of  the  missionaries  entered  a  synagogue  one  day. 
A  rabbi  was  preaching.  The  moment  he  saw  the  missionary  enter,  he 
stopped,  and  shouted  at  the  height  of  his  voice,  Shemah  Yisrael,  etc., 
'  Hear,  O  Israel,  The  Lord  is  our  God,  the  Lord  is  one;'  as  if  to  turn 
every  eye  in  scorn  to  one  who  could  maintain  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of 
God.  It  is  the  rallying-cry  of  the  Jews  ;  it  is  a  watchword  worth  a  dozen 
of  arguments  to  them."  Dr.  Bonar  tells  this  in  his  book  ;  and  it  gives  the 
true  picture  of  the  peculiar  and  supreme  appreciation  in  which  this  watch- 
word is  held  among  the  Jews.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  there  is  a 
slight  tincture  of  unfairness  in  this  story  thus  told.  The  Shemah  Yisrael 
is  always  very  prominent  in  the  synagogue  worship;  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  missionary  imagined  more  attention  given  to  hmi  than  was  really 
intended. 

f  I  must  here  notify  the  reader  who  is  not  familiar  with  the  Hebrew 
that  the  word  Adonai  does  not  occur  in  this  twenty-ninth  psalm  originally, 
but  the  original  word  is  the  tetragrammaton,  for  which  Adonai  is  used  as 
the  substitute  in  the  reading  of  the  psalm. 


OF   THE   NAME  A  DONA  I.  n 

next  dwell  on  the  holy  tetragrammaton,  which  fills  t.\o 
places  in  this  watchword.  And,  thirdly,  I  will  find  another 
argument  in  the  word  Elohim,  which  occurs  once  in  the 
Watchword. 

Expecting  to  have  other  readers  than  yourself,  I  must, 
for  their  sake,  write  many  things  which  you  understand 
much  better  than  I  do  ;  and  one  of  these  things  is  that 
the  three  Hebrew  words  Adon,  Adoni,  and  Adonai  differ, 
as  their  respective  renderings  are.  Lord,  My  Lord,  and 
My  Lords.  Another  is  that  the  words  shadim  and  Adonai 
are  separated  by  the  widest  possible  difference  of  meaning. 
Unitarianism  would  select  the  simple  Adon,  Lord  or 
Master,  as  the  best  title  for  the  Deity  ;  but  Judah's  choice 
passes  by  both  Adon  and  Adoni,  and  falls  on  the  plural 
Adonai,  My  Lords,  with  an  intense  preference.  This  last 
is  the  Divine  name.  When  the  mysterious  Person  ap- 
peared to  Gideon  as  he  was  threshing  wheat  at  the  wine- 
press, and  Gideon  at  first  supposed  him  to  be  only  a  man, 
he  addressed  him  by  the  word  Adoni,  My  Lord  ;  but 
when  he  began  to  speak  with  Divine  authority,  causing 
his  voice  to  be  heard  as  the  voice  of  God,  and  gave 
Gideon  the  assurance  of  successful  conquest  and  deliver- 
ance to  Israel  because  he  had  sent  him,  Gideon  imme- 
diately changed  the  word  of  address  to  the  Divine  name 
Adonai ;  and  likewise  at  the  close  of  that  conversation 
this  Divine  name  again  occurs.  Adonai  appeared  to  be 
thus  peculiarly  stamped  on  both  the  consciousness  and  the 
conscience  of  the  Hebrews  in  all  ages  as  the  more  proper 
word  to  be  used  in  a  direct  address  to  the  great  Creator. 
The  Bible  first  brings  this  word  to  light,  as  a  Divine 
name,  in  the  prayers  of  Abraham.  It  is  found  just  seven 
times  in  the  prayers  of  this  patriarch,  and  he  used  it  only 
in  prayer.  It  occurs  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
times  in  the  Bible  :  the  Masorites  made  a  mistake  in  Urn- 


12  THE  PLURALITY 

iting  it  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  or  five  times.  It 
is  remarkably  frequent  in  the  psahns;  and  it  holds  its 
place  in  the  writings  of  the  latest  prophets. 

The  word  appears  first  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis, and  here  it  fills  two  places.  "Abram  said,  Lord 
God,  what  wilt  thou  give  me,  seeing  I  go  childless?" 
"And  he  said.  Lord  God,  whereby  shall  I  know  that  I 
shall  inherit  it?"  Or,  to  restore  some  of  the  original 
words  to  their  places,  Abram  said,  ^^  Adotiai,  Jehovah, 
what  wilt  thou  give  me?" — '^Adotiai,  Jehovah,  whereby 
shall  I  know  that  I  shall  inherit  it?"  This  chapter  is  the 
record  of  the  original  covenant  with  Abraham,  and  the 
name  ^^/cWf?/ first  appears  here,  and  occupies  two  stations, 
as  if  from  them  presiding  over  the  covenant.  Abraham 
was  directed  to  procure  different  animals,  and  cut  them 
in  halves  and  leave  them  lying  each  half  opposite  to  the 
other;  and  the  Lord  was  to  establish  the  covenant  by 
passing  between  the  pieces.  The  animals  could  not  be 
restored  to  life  except  by  the  adhesion  of  the  separated 
halves,  and  so  the  covenant  brought  the  Lord  and  Abra- 
ham into  a  close  vital  union  in  one  purpose.  But  how 
did  the  Lord  manifest  his  presence  in  that  covenant  of 
the  carved  pieces  ?  He  was  there  the  One  and  the  Three. 
The  three  were — first  the  great  darkness  falling  upon  Abra- 
ham in  unspeakable  horrors,  secondly  the  smoking  fur- 
nace which  was  the  fire  from  God  that  accepted  the  sacri- 
fices, and  thirdly  the  burning  lamp  in  the  midst.  That 
covenant  may  be  called  the  rudiments  of  the  whole  Jewish 
religion.  Li  later  and  less  dark  ages,  God  was  still 
dwelling  in  the  thick  darkness ;  and  his  fire  was  on  the 
smoking  altar,  accepting  the  same  beasts  and  birds  as 
sacrifices  which  Abraham  had  been  directed  to  bring; 
and  the  burning  lamp  appeared  again  in  the  seven  lamps 
of  the  candlestick,  clos    to  the  golden  altar.     The  glory 


OF   THE  NAME  ADONAI. 


13 


of  God  is  the  dense  darkness  to  the  ungodly,  or  especially 
to  their  guilty  conscience  ;  and  it  is  the  fire  which  accepts 
the  bleeding  victim  at  the  altar  as  an  atonement  and 
satisfaction  for  the  penitent  \  and  it  is  the  burning  lamp 
which  sends  Divine  knowledge,  peace,  comfort,  and  joy 
to  the  pilgrims  on  a  dark  road.  The  great  darkness  may 
stand  for  the  incomprehensibility  of  God,  and  his  eternity, 
his  justice,  his  determination  not  to  clear  the  guilty  ;  and 
the  burning  lamp  may  be  the  illuminator,  the  light  of  his 
Spirit. 

The  other  point  already  mentioned,  which  became 
known  to  you  in  the  lessons  of  your  childhood,  is  that 
shadim  is  a  word  with  no  mark  of  holiness  on  it,  while 
Adonai  is  a  holy  name.  Shadim  means  demons.  The 
song  of  Moses  says,  "  They  sacrificed  unto  devils,  not  to 
God"  (Deut.  xxxii.  17);  they  sacrificed  unto  shadim. 
Though  having  this  horrible  meaning,  it  is  very  closely 
allied  to  the  Divine  x^z.\x\&  Shaddai,  which  mea-W?,  Aimighfy ; 
it  has  the  form  of  the  plural  of  this  holy  word.  Shaddai 
contains  the  idea  of  unity,  and  is  always  of  the  singular 
number;  and  if  it  had  been  received  into  Israel's  great 
watchword  as  the  substitute,  instead  of  the  word  that  was 
received,  unitarianism  as  opposed  to  trinitarianism  would 
have  been  expressed  with  transcendently  greater  clearness. 
Now,  my  dear  friend,  if  it  has  become  a  firm  impression 
on  your  mind  that  it  is  Shaddai  which  has  become  the 
substituted  word  in  this  great  text,  and  not  Adonai,  and 
that  Trinitarians  are  trying  to  force  it  into  a  plurality, 
and  the  result  of  their  work  would  be  to  change  Shaddai 
into  shadim,  and  make  the  verse  read.  Hear,  O  Israel, 
the  demons  our  God  are  demons  a  unity,  then  no  wonder 
if  you  exclaim  that  this  is  sacrilege  the  most  horrible, 
blasphemy  the  most  impious  !  No  wonder  that  you  pro- 
test that  the  idpls  and  devils  which  the  heathen  worshiped 

2 


14  THE   PLURALITY 

shall  never  be  introduced  into  this  text ;  and  you  are  fully 
justified  before  the  face  of  high  heaven  in  exclaiming  that 
these  are  the  false  deities  of  Olympus,  and  that  Jupiter, 
Minerva,  and  Pluto  cannot  be  too  intensely  detested  in 
such  a  connection  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  it  appears  to  me  that  a  fair  interpre- 
tation requires  the  admission  that  Shaddai  and  Adonai 
are  not  alike,  and  that  the  latter  is  stamped  with  a  real 
plurality  as  it  is  found  in  the  prayers  of  Abraham.  How 
can  it  be  consistently  interpreted  otherwise,  in  the  third 
place  where  it  occurs  in  the  Bible,  namely,  in  the  first 
verses  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  ?  The  Lord 
appeared  to  Abraham  in  the  plains  of  Mamre  at  noon  ;  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes  and  saw  three  men ;  he  ran  to  meet 
them,  bowed  himself,  and  said  to  them,  Adonai,  or  My 
Lords.  He  used  this  word  for  the  three,  and  so  it  stood 
for  a  holy  triad.  It  could  not  be  a  plural  of  majesty:  it 
was  an  actual  plural.  And  after  this,  in  company  with 
them  on  the  way  to  Sodom,  he  used  this  word  four  times 
in  his  intercession  for  Sodom.  One  of  the  most  solemn 
prayers  of  all  his  life  was  the  prayer  of  that  afternoon. 
In  the  evening  Lot  addressed  the  two  angels  with  the 
same  word,  but,  as  thus  used  by  Lot,  the  word,  by  uni- 
versal consent,  is  taken  in  its  ordinary  or  secular  sense, 
which  is  indicated  by  a  slight  difference  in  the  Masoretic 
pointing.  The  next  morning.  Lot,  in  his  flight  from 
Sodom,  said  to  them,  "Oh,  not  so,  Adonai  f  and  he 
continued  in  a  prayer  for  mercy ;  and  here  it  is  stamjied 
as  the  Divine  name  used  by  Lot.  Seven  times  the  word 
is  given  as  having  been  used  by  Abraham  and  Lot  between 
the  noon  of  one  day  and  the  sunrising  of  the  next;  it 
is  clearly  of  the  plural  number,  both  as  the  utterance 
of  Abraham  and  as  the  utterance  of  Lot ;  it  is  plural  both 
in  its  secular  sense  and  as  a  Divine  name;  it  meant  a  plu- 


OF   THE   NAME   ADONAI. 


15 


rality  and  a  triad  as  Abraham  used  it  at  noon,  and  it  was 
repeated  four  times  that  same  afternoon,  in. all  probability 
with  its  meaning  unchanged,  as  the  same  conversation 
was  continued,  and  Abraham  himself  uttered  it  the  five 
times,  and  the  same  persons  were  addressed. 

Aben  Ezra  has  dared  to  say  that  it  may  not  have  been 
the  Adonai,  the  Divine  name,  either  when  Abraham  first 
addressed  the  three  strangers,  or  when  Lot  in  the  morn- 
ing called  out  Adonai,  and  prayed  for  mercy;  but  the 
most  pious  and  learned  rabbis  were  amazed  at  his  saying 
so,  and  replied  that  it  has  the  peculiar  Masoretic  vowels 
of  the  Divine  name;  that  Onkelos  took  it  in  both  these 
places  for  the  Divine  name,  as  he  has  translated  it  by  the 
tetragrammaton  itself;  and  the  Talmud  decides  the  same 
way;  and  the  unvarying  rule  for  the  scribes  of  the  law  in 
all  ages  has  been  that  they  must  write  it  as  the  Divine 
name  in  both  these  places.  The  Talmud  is  quoted 
(Shevu'oth,  leaf  35),  that  in  all  places  the  Adonai  wXX^x^t^S. 
by  Abraham  is  the  holy  name. 

Jonathan  ben  Uzziel,  whose  Targum  is  about  as  ancient 
as  the  New  Testament,  took  the  unwarrantable  liberty  to 
set  the  singular  number  in  his  translation,  in  the  place  of 
the  plural,  in  the  original  text.  He  has  the  pronoun  him 
in  the  place  of  them  ;  he  reads  that  Lot  prayed  to  him  for 
mercy,  where  the  original  text  is  that  Lot  said  unto 
THEM,  "Oh,  not  so,  Adonai r^  Possibly  this  is  one 
of  the  earliest  instances  of  a  rigid  Unitarian  tampering 
dishonestly  with  the  words  of  the  Bible.  Jonathan  pro- 
bably felt  that  it  must  not  be  permitted  to  appear  as  if 
Lot,  praying  to  God  for  salvation,  was  praying  to  ///<?;;/.* 

-•■'Jonathan's  Targum  is  not  before  me  as  I  write,  but  I  read  the 
following  in  Mendelssohn's  Commentary,  which  I  suppose  is  sufficient 
authority  for  all  that  is  stated  above  : 


1 6  THE   PLURALITY 

I  know  well  that  many  expositors  would  object  to  a 
strictly  trinitarian  view  of  the  three  who  visited  Abraham, 
and  they  prefer  to  explain  the  plurality  in  that  Adonai 
in  this  way,  that  one  of  the  three  was  the  eternal  Creator 
himself,  and  the  other  two  were  created  angels  minister- 
ing to  him.  They  thus  suppose  the  plurality  of  that 
Adonai  to  arise  from  the  association  of  two  created  angels 
with  the  one  eternal  God.  They  make  the  holy  word  a 
mixture  of  the  Creator  and  the  creation,  of  the  infinite 
and  the  finite,  of  the  eternal  and  the  temporal,  of  the 
Almighty  and  the  weakness  of  created  things.  If  you 
search  among  the  gods  and  the  demi-gods  of  Greece,  you 
may  possibly  find  some  picture  where  the  head  is  the  god 
and  the  lower  parts  are  some  inferior  being,  some  quad- 
ruped or  still  lower  creature ;  and  such  a  picture  may 
illustrate  the  mixture  which  these  expounders  suppose 
they  find  in  the  Divine  name  Adonai.  But  one  objection 
to  this  hypothesis  is  that  when  the  people  had  worshiped 
the  golden  calf  and  deserved  to  perish  with  Sodom,  Moses 
made  a  prayer  for  them  after  the  model  of  Abraham's  in- 
tercession for  Sodom ;  but  the  Adonai  in  the  prayer  of 
Moses  cannot  be  interpreted  in  this  way.  The  words  of 
Moses  were,  "If  now  I  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  O 
Adonai,  let  Adonai,  I  pray,  go  among  us ;  for  it  is  a  stiff- 
necked  people;  and  pardon  our  iniquity  and  our  sin." 
Unquestionably,  there  was  no  mixture  of  created  angels 
in  the  word  as  Moses  used  it  in  this  prayer.  He  desired 
the  presence  oi  Adonai,  without  any  reference  to  an  angel. 
It  troubled  him  to  hear  the  intimation  that  some  created 
angel  might  be  sent  with  them. 

Likewise  in  Isaiah's  viijion  of  the  Lord  and  the  wor- 
shiping seraphim,  when  he  saw  Adonai  sitting  on  a  throne 
high  and  lifted  up,  and  heard  the  voice  oi  Ado7iai  %z.y\x\g, 
"Whom  shall   I  send?  and   who  will  go  for  us?"  the 


OF  THE   NAME  ADONAI. 


17 


whole  vision  separates  Adonai  and  the  seraphim  far  from 
each  other,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  the  seraphim  are 
included  in  the  word  Adonai  or  in  the  plural  pronoun 
which  is  the  last  word  of  the  inquiry. 

So  likewise  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  Daniel,  where  Adonai 
occurs  seven  times,  just  as  many  times  as  it  had  been 
before  uttered  by  Abraham.  One  of  the  most  wonder- 
ful prayers  in  the  Bible  fills  this  chapter.  Daniel  saw  the 
wrath  of  God  in  the  desolations  of  Jerusalem  and  the  dis- 
persion of  the  people,  and  he  was  distressed  in  view  of 
their  sins.  His  prayer  shows  a  remarkably  frequent  repe- 
tition of  the  holy  name  Adonai,  which  Abraham  had  used 
with  such  power,  that  he  might  mitigate  the  dark  cloud 
of  Divine  wrath  that  was  over  Sodom.  Assuredly,  the 
Adonai  of  Daniel's  prayer  was  the  Lord  himself,  without 
any  mixture  of  the  persons  of  created  angels  in  it.  It 
was  not  Gabriel  to  whom  he  looked,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  when  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  Adonai.  It  is 
an  imagination  adverse  to  genuine  Judaism,  that  either 
Daniel  or  Abraham  ever  made  any  prayers  to  created 
angels,  that  these  might  bring  their  prayers  before  God 
and  bring  back  the  answer. 

So  again,  in  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  where  the 
word  Adonai  occurs  fourteen  times, — just  twice  as  often 
as  Abraham  ever  used  it.  This  may  appear  the  more 
remarkable  as  the  word  is  not  often  found  in  the  Book 
of  Jeremiah.  The  word  was  consecrated  to  prayer:  it 
became  marked  as  the  favorite  word  for  the  interceding 
and  distressed  soul  in  the  presence  of  God.  Jeremiah 
was  weeping  and  praying  over  the  burning  of  the  temple, 
the  desolations  of  the  land,  the  distress  of  the  people  ; 
and  he  ^exclaimed,  in  the  bitterest  grief,  that  the  woe 
resting  on  the  people  was  worse  than  the  woe  of  Sodom. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  he  remembered  Abraham's  prayers 

2* 


iS         THE  PLURALITY  OF  THE   NAME  ADONAI. 

in  the  afternoon  of  the  vision  of  the  triad,  when  the  ruin 
of  Sodom  was  to  come  the  next  morning,  and  made  the 
Lamentations  so  peculiarly  resound  with  the  Adonai  of 
that  ancient  model  prayer  !  But  remember  here,  that  in 
all  the  Lamentations  there  is  no  reference  to  any  created 
angel,  and  such  an  angel  cannot  have  any  part  in  the 
plurality  of  Adonai. 

This  perfect  freedom  of  the  plurality  of  this  word  from 
all  alloy  of  the  persons  of  created  angels,  which  is  so 
manifest  in  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  the  prayer  of 
Daniel,  the  vision  of  Isaiah,  and  the  prayer  of  Moses, 
ought  to  be  accepted  as  a  strong  proof  of  the  same  perfect 
purity  in  the  prayers  of  Abraham  and  Lot  in  the  last 
hours  of  Sodom,  which  prayers  are  really  the  original 
model.  And  if  this  word,  as  it  issued  a  coin  fresh  from 
the  mint,  and  glittering,  in  the  prayers  of  Abraham,  had 
a  triad  on  its  face,  or  a  certain  figure  of  a  holy  Trinity, 
it  ought  to  carry  that  figure  ever  afterwards,  and  it  ought 
to  be  on  the  same  Adonai  now,  as  it  resounds  in  syna- 
gogues all  over  the  world  ;  and  where  it  is  not  on  it,  there 
may  be  some  suspicion  of  a  counterfeit ;  and  where  the 
metal  is  now  such  that  the  original  triad  cannot  be  on  it, 
there  maybe  considerable  reason  to  raise  a  question,  on  the 
possibility  that  some  kind  of  a  counterfeit  has  got  into 
the  currency. 

M.   R.  M. 

Note. — In  Gen.  xviii.  3,  where  Abraham  is  found  meeting  the  three 
strangers  and  addressing  them  as  Adonai,  the  LXX.  translate  it  Kupie, 
which  proves  that  it  was  the  holy  Adonai  in  their  eyes,  and  in  each  of  the 
four  other  places  in  this  chapter  they  give  the  same  rendering;  and  again 
it  is  with  them  Kupce  where  Lot  says  Adonai  to  the  two  angels  the  next 
morning ;  but  the  Adonai  which  Lot  uttered  when  he  first  met  the  two 
angels  in  the  evening  is  translated  xuptoi,  .f/>.r,  ?nasters,  and  therefore  must 
have  been  taken,  not  as  the  holy  divine  name,  but  as  the  common  secu- 
lar mode  of  address. — Glad  to  know  that  the  Septuagint  perfectly  agrees, 
in  these  seven  points,  with  the  view  which  has  just  been  presented. 


LETTER    II. 

Dear  Friend  : — 

I  now  leave  the  substituted  name,  and  approach  the 
great  name  which  fills  two  places  in  the  watchword  of 
Israel,  as  this  text  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  pen  of 
Moses.  This  is  the  ineffable  name,  the  four-lettered 
name,  the  tetragrammaton,  ihtyodhevavhe,  the  most  holy 
name  in  all  the  Bible,  the  most  holy  name  that  has  ever 
been  given  to  men  to  be  seen  inscribed  in  a  book.  It  is 
the  proper  name  for  the  Eternal  One,  and  stands  for  his 
essence.  Other  names  are  epithets  or  derivatives  from 
some  of  his  attributes  or  some  of  his  works,  as,  for  in- 
stance, El,  which  is  expressive  of  omnipotence,  Adonai, 
which  expresses  supreme  control.  Creator,  Redeemer, 
the  God  of  Abraham,  the  Dweller  between  the  Cherubim; 
but  this  is  the  essential  name,  and  belonged  as  completely 
to  God  before  there  was  one  revolving  world  or  one  beam 
of  light  as  it  belongs  now.  Its  majestic  form  is  immu- 
table ;  it  cannot  ever  be  changed  into  the  form  of  the 
plural  number,  and  it  never  holds  a  place,  like  the  name 
Elohim,  among  the  idols  of  the  heathen  :  it  is  never 
joined  with  such  an  adjective  as  false,  to  indicate  a  hea- 
then deity.  Beiiold  it  as  it  stands  in  the  original  text  : 
Hear,  O  Israel :  Jehovah  our  God  is  one  Jehovah  ;  or,  as 
some  prefer  to  translate  the  verse  :  Hear,  O  Israel :  Jeho- 
vah is  our  God,  Jehovah  is  one. 

The  argument  connected  with  this  name  takes  the  form 
of  three  divisions,  as  follows  : 

19 


20  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

1.  Joshua,  the  servant  and  disciple  of  Moses,  could  not 
give  this  name  a  plural  form,  but  he  appended  a  phrase 
to  it  which  is  strangely  and  intensely  of  the  plural  num- 
ber, as  its  just  definition  and  equivalent.  This  is  found 
in  Josh.  xxiv.  19:*  "And  Joshua  said  unto  the  people. 
Ye  cannot  serve  Jehovah  :  for  he  is  a  holy  God."  Here 
the  phrase  holy  God  appears  to  be  of  the  singular  num- 
ber in  the  English  translation ;  but  the  original  He- 
brew has  both  the  noun  God  in  the  plural  number,  and 
the  adjective  holy,  agreeing  with  it,  in  the  plural  number, 
which  is  remarkable  here,  because  in  nearly  all  instances 
in  the  Bible  the  term  God,  or  Elohini,  though  strictly 
itself  of  the  plural  number,  has  both  the  adjectives  and 
the  verbs  agreeing  with  it  in  the  singular  number.  The 
tetragrammaton  stands  here  as  being  defined  the  Gods, 
the  holy  ones,  the  holy  persons. 

2.  An  abstract  Trinity  lies  in  the  tetragrammaton. 
John,  the  Divine,  unfolds  its  true  meaning  when  he  pro- 
nounces the  blessing  of  grace  and  peace  "from  him 
which  is,  and  wHich  was,  and  which  is  to  come."  These 
three  times  visibly  hold  their  places  in  the  word.  It 
unites  the  words  yehyeh,  which  means  he  will  be,  and 
hoveh,  which  means  he  is  now,  and  hayah,  which  means 
he  was,  and  holds  the  three  words  in  its  adorable  unity. 
These  are  abstractions  which  make  the  impress  of  the  in- 
finite on  our  minds.  First,  here  is  the  great  He-will-be, 
the  eternity  future.  No  intellect  can  imagine  its  termi- 
nation, and  no  arithmetic  can  give  the  figures  of  its  mil- 
lions of  ages.  The  journey  of  the  immortal  soul  beyond 
the  grave  lies  through  it  ;  and  as  we  try  to  count  its  vast 
ages,  imagination  cannot  reach  any  moment  to  which  our 

A  *        't  J'      VI        I*  T      :  V  ':  -  !  ■■  >   T  V       "^  \  I 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATON.  21 

immortality  will  not  in  due  time  bring  us ;  and  beyond 
that  most  distant  moment  that  imagination  and  arithme- 
tic can  reach,  there  still  lies  the  same  future  eternity  with- 
out diminution.  The  eternity  past,  that  lies  in  another 
part  of  this  holy  name,  has  equal  majesty ;  it  is  equally 
beyond  the  comprehension  of  all  created  intellects. 
There  is  this  difference,  that  we  are  always  traveling 
away  from  it,  while  we  are  always  traveling  into  the 
bosom  of  the  other  :  we  identify  no  point  in  one  of  these 
which  our  undying  personality  will  not  reach ;  but  the 
past  eternity  is  gone,  to  us,  and  we  cannot  ever  again 
touch  one  of  its  points. 

The  present  moment  has  its  little  place,  between  these 
two  unbounded  oceans  of  time.  It  is  like  a  most  slender 
ribbon  drawn  across  the  infinite  ocean,  or  a  blazing  thread, 
in  which  all  the  created  universe  has  its  life,  and  this 
thread  is  never  at  rest,  it  is  always  m.oving  on  the  surface 
and  measuring  off  the  mighty  waves  of  the  future  into 
the  past.  No  object  is  more  limited,  no  shadow  is  more 
transient,  and  no  light  more  quickly  dies ;  but,  withal,  it 
has  in  its  little  self  all  the  value  of  the  past  eternity  and 
all  the  promise  of  the  future  eternity.  All  the  past  is  per- 
petuated and  represented  in  it,  and  all  the  future  will  be 
unrolling  from  it.  The  vastness  of  eternity  had  to  pro- 
duce a  present  moment,  a  present  tense,  which  comes  and 
goes  with  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  or  no  created  being 
could  ever  have  come  into  existence ;  and  if  it  should 
once  cease,  ^11  men  and  angels  and  all  worlds  would  in- 
stantly be  lost  in  the  ocean  of  eternal  time.  This  blazing 
moving  thread  that  separates  the  two  oceans  would  al- 
most bear  to  be  personified,  and  the  words  might  be  put 
in  its  mouth,  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the 
only-begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
he  hath  declared  him;"  or,  in  less  holy  words,  No  man 


2  2  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

hath  explored  the  past  eternity;  but  I,  the  present  mo- 
ment, the  occupant  of  its  bosom,  reveal  it  and  possess  all 
its  worth.  Or  we  may  almost  give  to  the  present  moment 
the  words  of  Jesus  when  one  disciple  asked  him  to  show 
them  the  Father,  aad  he  answered,  "He  that  hath  seen 
me  hath  seen  the  Father :  believest  thou  not  that  I  am 
in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me?"  So  the  present 
moment  may  claim  that  it  reveals  all  the  past,  and  that  it 
was  in  all  the  past  eternity,  and  all  that  eternity  is  now 
in  it.  To  know  fully  the  present  moment  is  to  know  all 
the  infinite  past  and  foresee  all  the  infinite  future.  The 
three  tenses  in  their  essential  relations  give  us  something 
very  similar  to  the  image  of  a  Divine  Trinity. 

The  three  times  are  one  :  and  now  can  this  august  unity 
be  illustrated?  Suppose  eternity,  in  its  complete  import, 
to  take  the  form  of  an  infinite  circle,  and  that  the  present 
tense  is  a  single  blazing  point  moving  along  on  that  circle 
and  never  turning  back  or  permitting  itself  to  stop  for 
rest :  all  men  and  angels,  all  created  worlds,  are  confined 
to  this  one  blazing  point;  they  live  and  move  and  have 
their  whole  actual  being  in  it ;  they  have  traveled  forward 
from  the  past  in  it,  and  they  never  can  get  into  the  future 
any  faster  than  it  will  carry  them.  Thus  traveling  on  in 
it  as  the  blazing  chariot  of  the  universe,  they  look  for- 
ward along  the  circle  and  appear  to  have  a  whole  eternity 
before  them,  and  they  look  back  along  the  circle  and  it 
appears  as  if  the  whole  infinite  circle  lies  in  their  rear. 
But  the  place  of  the  Creator  himself  is  not  in  that  chariot, 
as  their  place  is;  and  all  his  time  is  not  a  single  moment, 
as  their  time  is.  There  is  no  past  eternity  to  him,  and 
no  future  eternity;  there  is  no  old  time  to  him,  and  no 
new  time,  as  these  things  appear  to  them  in  their  unend- 
ing ride  along  the  circle.  He  occupies  the  centre  of  the 
circle ;  and  this  is  the  explanation  how  he  inhabits  eter- 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATON. 


23 


nity ;  and,  being  thus  in  the  centre,  all  points  of  the 
circle  are  equally  near  to  his  eye  and  equally  within  the 
reach  of  his  hand  ;  and  the  year  of  the  world  five  billion 
five  million  six  hundred  and  thirty  is  the  same  thing  to 
his  eye  and  hand  as  the  year  of  the  world  which  I  might 
have  put  at  the  head  of  this  letter  according  to  your 
chronology. 

3.  A  personal  Trinity  lies  in  the  tetragrammaton.  A 
living  Trinity  is  in  it, — not  only  the  Trinity  of  abstrac- 
tions, but  the  Trinity  of  Divine  and  eternal  life.  It 
spontaneously  expands  into  the  form  of  three  personal 
living  names,  and  these  three  are  equally  holy,  equally 
incomprehensible,  equally  Divine,  equally  impossible  to 
be  transferred  so  that  any  one  may  take  the  place  of  any 
other,  and  equally  impossible  ever  to  be  assumed  by  even 
the  most  glorious  angel  that  ever  worships  before  the 
throne.  They  are  three  in  one  :  they  are  clearly  sepa- 
rated, yet  they  unite  in  the  one  great  name.  The  begin- 
ning of  the  tetragrammaton  brings  out  the  separate  name, 
I-will-be-that-I-will-be.  "  Moses  said  unto  God,  Behold, 
when  I  come  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  and  shall  say 
unto  them.  The  God  of  your  fathers  hath  sent  me  unto 
you ;  and  they  shall  say  to  me.  What  is  his  name  ?  what 
shall  I  say  unto  them  ?  And  God  said  unto  Moses,  I-will- 
be-that-I-will-be  :  and  he  said.  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  I-will-be  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 
(Ex.  iii.  13,  14.)  This  is  a  voice  coming  from  the  depths 
of  the  infinite  future  and  proclaiming  that  God  dwells 
there,  and  that  his  living  name  in  the  first  person,  as 
grammarians  say,  or  the  person  of  the  speaker,  fills  that 
unending  duration.  Only  God  can  speak  from  the  bosom 
of  the  infinite  future.  Men  and  angels  and  moving 
worlds  never  can  send  forth  their  voice  from  any  other  time 
than  the  present  moment ;  the  only  time  that  they  can 


24 


THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 


call  their  own  is  the  present :  all  their  future  lies  in  the 
Omnipotent  Hand,  and  they  have  no  sure  hope  in  the 
future,  except  as  they  can  stand  on  some  Divine  promise. 
Let  them  all  fall  down  in  the  adoring  worship  of  him  who 
has  the  name  I-will-be-that-I-will-he  for  himself  alone, 
and  to  whom  all  the  future  is  perfectly  the  same  as  the 
present  moment. 

The  close  of  the  tetragrammaton  furnishes  the  other 
Divine  name,  Jah ;  and  it  stands  for  the  past  eternity  just 
as  the  first  name  stands  for  the  coming  eternity.  The 
hayah  at  the  close  is  modified  into  the  personal  name 
Jah ;  the  strength  of  the  Deity  "is  concentrated  in  this 
great  name.  The  past  cannot  be  changed :  what  is 
completely  past  must  remain  eternally  what  it  already  is : 
so  the  immutability  of  God  is  enshrined  in  the  name 
Jah.  It  is  radiant  with  the  truth  that  Divine  law  must  be 
sustained,  and  that  wickedness  must  meet  its  due  punish- 
ment. When  the  Lord  makes  his  oath  against  Amalek, 
he  raises  his  hand  to  heaven,*  or  rather,  as  it  is  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter  of  Exodus,  with  the  hand  laid  on  the 
throne  of  Jah  he  swears  to  perpetuate  the  war  against 
Amalek  through  all  generations.  Thus  the  hand  laid  on 
the  throne  of  Jah  is  the  sign  of  the  most  fearful  oath  that 
is  ever  made  in  heaven.  All  the  strength  of  the  infinite 
past  must  be  exhausted  before  this  oath  can  fail  to  be  ful- 
filled. The  prophet  Isaiah  has  the  word  Jah  in  two 
places,  and  in  both  it  stands  in  the  closest  connection 
with  the  full  tetragrammaton  :  the  first  is  a  quotation 
from  the  verse  in  the  song  of  Moses  at  the  Red  Sea, 
"My  strength  and  my  song  is  Jah,"  which  the  prophet 
lengthens  by  adding  the  tetragrammaton  to  the  Jah, 
"My  strength  and  song  is  Jah  Jehovah"  (Isa.  xii.  2);  the 

*■  Deut.  xxxii.  40. 


OF  THE   TETRAGRAMMATON.  25 

other  brings  forth  the  idea  of  strength  and  immutability 
with  great  emphasis:  "Trust  in  the  Lord  forever,  be- 
cause in  Jah  Jehovah  is  the  rock  of  ages"  (Isa.  xxvi.  4). 
Creation  naturally  brings  forward  the  word  Jah,  as  being 
connected  with  it,  and  having  the  meaning  of  God  before 
all,  as  is  illustrated  by  the  verse  (Ps.  cii.  18),  "  the  people 
created  shall  praise  Jah."  The  Targum  dwells  on  the 
expression  in  Solomon's  Song,  "the  flame  of  Jah,"  that 
this  flame  is  hell,  the  world  which  the  Lord  created  on 
the  second  of  the  six  days  of  creation,  to  be  the  abode  of 
the  punishment  of  fire  for  those  who  go  after  strange 
gods.  A  singular  saying  was  among  the  rabbis,  that 
God  created  the  worlds  in  the  two  letters  of  the  word 
Jah.  The  psalmist  says,  "  Sing  unto  God,  sing  praises 
to  his  name :  extol  him  that  rideth  upon  the  heavens  by 
his  name  JAH."     Ps.  Ixviii.  4. 

With  the  I-will-be-that-I-will-be  thus  blazing  at  the 
opening  of  the  tetragrammaton,  and  the  Jah  blazing  at 
its  close,  the  former  the  Divine  name  for  the  future  eter- 
nity and  the  latter  the  Divine  name  for  the  past  eternity, 
it  appears  as  if  the  mighty  present  ought  also  to  have  its 
separate  Divine  name;  and  we  do  find  a  second  tetra- 
grammaton which  appears  to  be  precisely  this  separate 
name,  and  to  be  properly  designated  as  the  central  or 
interjacent  ineffable  name.  Remember  how  the  Scripture 
reads :  "And  God  spake  to  Moses,  and  said  to  him,  I  am 
Jehovah.  And  I  appeared  to  Abraham,  to  Isaac,  and  to 
Jacob  by  El  Shaddai  [God  Almighty],  and  by  my  name 
Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them."  (Ex.  vi.  2,  3.)  But 
how  can  this  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  facts  that 
God  did  say  to  Abraham  that  he  was  Jehovah  who  had 
brought  him  out  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  and  that  Abra- 
ham once  gave  a  name  to  a  mountain  and  incorporated 
the  tetragrammaton  into  this  name?  Aben  Ezra  doubtless 
B  3 


26  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

declares  what  is  the  truth,  that  the  tetragrammaton  was 
certainly  known  to  all  these  patriarchs.  The  true  inter- 
pretation must  therefore  be  that  it  assumed  a  new  mean- 
ing in  the  time  of  Moses,  which  the  patriarchs  had  never 
been  taught  to  give  it.  They  viewed  it  as  the  sublime 
term  for  the  unity  of  God,  and  as  being  properly  inter- 
preted,—  He-who-will-be,  He-who-is-now,  and  He-who- 
was ;  but  they  may  have  looked  no  further ;  they  may 
never  have  perceived  the  personal  Trinity  in  it.  The  name 
I-will-be-that-I-will-be  was  first  communicated  to  Moses, 
and  the  name  Jah  is  never  found  before  the  song  of  Moses 
at  the  Red  Sea;  and  the  tetragrammaton,  as  limited  by 
the  first  of  these  on  one  side,  the  side  of  the  future 
eternity,  and  by  the  second  on  the  other  side,  the 
side  of  the  past  eternity,  may  have  been  revealed  first 
to  Moses  and  may  never  have  been  known  to  the 
patriarchs. 

When  the  Lord  revealed  himself  to  Moses  in  the  fissure 
of  the  rock  after  the  offense  in  the  worship  of  the  golden 
calf,  and  in  connection  with  the  writing  of  the  second 
tables  of  the  law,  he  proclaimed  a  tetragrammaton  the 
first  and  a  tetragrammaton  the  second: — "The  Lord 
passed  by  before  him,  and  proclaimed  :  Jehovah,  Jehovah, 
El,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and  abundant 
in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands." 
(Ex.  xxxiv.  6,  7.)  If  it  be  argued  that  the  two  words  at 
the  head  of  this  list,  being  the  same,  must  be  interpreted 
as  a  mere  repetition,  our  answer  is  that  the  tradition  of 
the  rabbis  contradicts  this  and  requires  that  they  have 
different  meanings.  The  rabbinic  tradition  finds  thirteen 
names  for  God  in  tliis  list :  Jehovah  is  the  first,  Jehovah 
is  the  second,  El  the  third.  Merciful  the  fourth,  Gracious 
the  fifth,  and  so  on,  until  the  last  is  the  thirteenth ;  and 
this  proves  clearly  that  a  real  difference  was  accepted 


OF  THE    TETRAGRAMMATON. 


27 


between  the  first  tetragrammaton  and  the  second,  other- 
wise the  two  ought  to  have  been  counted  as  only  one. 
If  you  promise  to  give  five  designations  of  George  Wash- 
ington, and  count  them,  George  Washington  the  first, 
George  Washington  the  second.  First  in  war  the  third. 
First  in  peace  the  fourth,  and  First  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen  the  fifth,  it  is  evident  that' you  give  George 
Washington  two  meanings,  because  if  you  do  not  your 
designations  really  number  only  four.  The  preferable 
interpretation  is  to  take  the  first  tetragrammaton  as  the 
patriarchal,  and  the  second  as  the  new  one  revealed 
to  Moses  which  had  not  been  made  known  to  the  patri- 
archs. The  first  then  includes  the  second,  and  the  second 
holds  its  marked  place  in  the  present  tense  between  the 
I-will-be-that-I-will-be  of  the  future  and  the  Jah  of  the 
past. 

This  second  tetragrammaton  comes  prominently  for- 
ward in  Hosea  i.  7,  where  Jehovah  promises,  "I  will 
have  mercy  upon  the  house  of  Judah,  and  I  will  save 
them  by  Jehovah  their  God,  and  will  not  save  them  by 
bow,  nor  by  sword,  nor  by  battle,  by  horses,  nor  by 
horsemen."  Here  the  Lord  promises  salvation,  and  it 
will  come  by  the  second  Lord  as  the  instrument. 

Before  I  bring  this  argument  into  the  New  Testament, 
I  must  adduce  three  other  texts  from  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
in  which  the  Messiah  is  found  by  the  majority  of  devout 
commentators.  In  the  first  text  he  has  the  \\\\q  Adon  ;  in 
the  second,  the  title  jfchovah  ;  and  in  the  third  his  name 
is  the  fellow  of  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth.  The  first  text  is 
Mai.  iii.  i  which  reads:  "Behold  I  will  send  my  mes- 
senger, and  he  shall  prepare  the  way  before  me  :  and  the 
Lord  {Adofi)  whom  ye  seek  shall  suddenly  come  to  his 
temple,  even  the  angel  of  the  covenant  whom  ye  delight 
in:  behold  he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth." 


28  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

The  second  text  is  Isa.  xl.  3:  "The  voice  of  him  that 
crieth  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord 
(Jehovah),  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  high  way  for  our 
God."  The  third  text  isZech.  xiii.  7  :  "Awake,  O  sword, 
against  my  shepherd,  and  against  the  man  that  is  my  fel- 
low, saith  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth  :  smite  the  shepherd,  and 
the  sheep  shall  be  scattered  ;  and  I  will  turn  mine  hand 
upon  the  little  ones."  Wonderful  language  is  this,  which 
places  this  shepherd  before  us,  as  x\\q  fellow  of  Jehovah 
Qf  Sabaoth  !  But  what !  if  this  phrase,  Jehovah  of  Sa- 
baoth, proves  that  the  word  Jehovah  has  passed  from  a 
proper  noun  to  a  common  noun  !  This  very  point  will 
face  us  before  the  present  Letter'  closes.  And  just  here 
the  question  begins  to  look  us  in  the  face,  whether  there 
is  any  possibility  that  the  name  Jehovah  can  be  found  as 
a  common  noun  among  the  prophets,  and  can  stand  only 
for  One  person,  with  no  fellow  of  the  One  standing  by 
his  side?  The  word  here  translated  fellow,  vs>  gnamith, 
and  it  never  means  an  opponent  or  adversary,  as  is  clear 
from  the  only  other  places  where  it  occurs  in  the  Bible : 
these  are  eleven,  and  are  confined  to  the  book  of  Leviti- 
cus. They  are  Lev.  vi.  2  where  it  occurs  twice,  and  Lev. 
xxv.  14  where  it  also  is  found  twice ;  and  in  each  of  these 
four  places  it  is  translated  by  the  word  neighbor ;  with 
Lev.  xix.  II,  15,  17;  xviii.  20;  xxiv.  19;  xxv.  15,  17. 

[The  argument  from  Solomon's  Song  will  appear  in 
another  Letter,*] 

*  Solomon's  Song  vii.  5  :  "  the  King  is  held  in  the  galleries."  Aben 
Ezra  elucidates  this  in  his  Commentary,  thus:  xin  'D^tama  liDN  ^Sd 
nSij  nStfiT'  n3intt>  ara  13  ijijimp  i|i>nj?n  itt'No  "\ids  Nmr  mti'cn 
"  this  King  is  the  Messiah,  who  is  bound  in  accordance  with  what  our 
ancestors  have  delivered  to  us,  that  on  the  day  when  Jerusalem  was 
destroyed  he  was  born."  The  Jews  of  the  present  day,  who  have  no 
faith  in  the  promised  Messiah,  have  wandered  to  a  great  distance  from 
the  views  which  their  fathers  held. 


OF  THE  tetragrammaton: 


29 


In  the  Septuagint  and  the  New  Testament,  the  original 
tetragrammaton  is  uniformly  translated  by  the  word  Kurios, 
which  is,  in  the  English  Bible,  Lord.  This  word  Kurios 
is  often  applied  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  in  the  following  in- 
stances :  Matt.  vii.  22,  "  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day. 
Lord,  Lord!"  John  xiii.  13,  "Ye  call  me  Master  and 
Lord:  and  ye  say  well;  for  so  I  am;"  Luke  xvii.  5, 
"And  the  apostles  said  unto  the  Lord,  Licrease  our 
faith;"  Luke  xxiii.  42,  "And  he  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord, 
remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom;" 
John  XX.  28,  "And  Thomas  answered  and  said  unto 
him,  My  Lord  and  my  God;"  Acts  x.  36,  "The  word 
which  God  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  preaching 
peace  by  Jesus  Christ  (he  is  Lord  of  all);"  2  Peter  iii. 
18,  "But  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;"  Rev.  xix.  15,  16,  "He 
treadeth  the  winepress  of  the  fierceness  and  wrath  of 
Almighty  God  ;  and  he  hath  on  his  vesture  and  on  his 
thigh  a  name  written,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
Lords."  And  when  it  is  remembered  that  this  word 
Kurios  in  its  holy  meaning  among  the  Jews  originated 
from  the  tetragrammaton,  there  cannot  be  any  doubt 
that  in  all  these  passages  it  is  really  the  tetragrammaton 
translated,  and  not  properly  the  ancient  patriarchal  one, 
but  rather  the  second  and  central  tetragrammaton  which 
was  made  known  to  Moses,  having  its  abode  in  the 
])resent  tense,'and  limited  on  one  side  by  the  name  I-will- 
be-that-I-will-be,  and  on  the  other  by  the  name  Jah. 
This  being  admitted,  it  needs  no  argument  that  the  Jah 
is  the  same  as  the  eternal  Father,  or  God  before  all. 

The  remaining  name,  I-will-be-that-I-will-be,  admits  of 
a  strict  application  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  Egyptians  attributed  the  perfect  knowledge 
of  all  the  future  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  is  proved  by  the 


-* 
o 


3° 


THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 


exclamation  of  Pharaoh  when  Joseph  had  just  revealed  to 
him  the  seven  coming  years  of  plenty  to  be  succeeded  by 
as  many  years  of  famine  :  he  said  to  his  servants,  "Can 
we  find  such  a  one  as  this  is,  a  man  in  whom  the  Spirit 
of  God  is?"  and,  assuredly,  the  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
future  belongs  in  the  strictest  propriety  to  him  whose 
essential  name  is  I-will-be-that-I-will-be.  The  Spirit 
of  God  anoints  a  messenger  to  preach  good  tidings  to 
the  meek,  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to 
them  that  are  bound ;  and  the  best  thing  that  Moses  could 
go  and  say  to  his  oppressed  brethren  was  that  this  Spirit, 
as  the  eternal  I-will-be,  had  sent  him ;  and  the  seal  of 
this  Spirit  was  all  that  his  commission  needed.  The 
Spirit  of  God  in  the  beginning  moved  cyi  the  face  of  the 
waters  ;  and  there  was  a  moral  chaos  among  the  Hebrews 
in  Egypt  over  which  no  influence  could  be  effectual  ex- 
cept the  influence  of  the  same  Spirit.  "  The  Angel  of 
his  presence  saved  them,"  says  Isaiah;  "but  they  re- 
belled, and  vexed  his  Holy  Si)irit."     Isa.  Ixiii.  9,  10. 

The  Jewish  commentators  of  the  most  enlightened 
school  concede  that  the  tetragrammaton  is  in  some 
places  a  Dx>'n  oc,  and  in  other  places  a  ixn  ds:',  that 
is,  both  a  proper  name  and  an  appellative,  both  a  proper 
noun  and  an  adjective  noun  or  a  derivative  from  some 
event,  both  a  designation  of  essence  and  a  designation 
of  a  quality  or  agency.*     Aben   Ezra  held  that  it  was 


*  Ki'fHog  and  Ki'pLog  aa(iaud  (Lord  and  Lord  of  Sabaoth),  both  of  them 
common  nouns  or  appellatives,  are  used  throughout  the  Septuagint  and 
the  New  Testament  (Rom.  ix.  29,  James  v.  4)  to  translate  nin>  and 
niN3S  nin^  (Jehovah  and  Jehovah  of  hosts) ;  and  as  this  appears  to  indi- 
cate that  both  these  Hebrew  terms  were  accepted  in  the  light  of  appella- 
tives long  before  Christianity  was  known  in  the  world,  it  may  be  useful 
to  consult  carefully  one  of  the  highest  authorities  on  this  subject,  which  is 


OF   THE    TETRAGKAMMETON. 


31 


known  to  the  patriarchs  as  a  proper  noun,  a  particular 
name,  but  Moses  was  the  first  to  know  it  as  an  appel- 

Aben  Ezra,  who  gives  the  following  as  a  part  of  his  comment  on  the  third 
chapter  of  Exodus  : 

Qxp  npD  lyniu''-?!  iNiip"?  p'dSi  niNS  ocicn  Kin  Dxyn  db'  13  yi 
ni-^nn  ob'  ^d  inxn  iNnn  db'D  Dsyn  Da*  Si3>  m^T  i-j?2-\n31  xnpjn 
7r-innN3  Qonn  jyoS  -\2]>  Sjjia  p*?  Djn  dk  •'JO  Djn  ido  Svbod  nrjj 
iJi'N  i"inj>  IX  13J?  i:dd  itr  nS  onn^N  iD3  Dx;;n  d::'  p  nSi  ttij;  "jyio 
Diy  >3  pns'N  nSi  >npns>  cdni  nS  pnxi  id3  '?j;i3D  lUJi:'  nxi;  Dty  b'ib' 
n:Si  fiDan  idnhi  -inhh  ob*  S3n  nannc  on  nanni  npno  ujin  dxj? 
N<Si  a>Dmax  qot  Su  idk''  nS  Dspn  Diy  Nina'  om^xn  rOi':'  pn> 
Qi'jNns'i  iDN''  NcS  nirjx  ij'.i'  DiS'  nin  p  DN  Dsyn  ■oif  ^yrw  Snt^^d 
nanni  pDn  ob»  retina'  H^ns'''  Sk  nnx  >a>^  Dni'n''!f3  njj  idni  pn 

'»  L  L 

>3  iNnn  02'  nNi3<  iu'xd  nynn  xn^  nxno  n^ni  x?  axjrn  oa'  >r>7a'n 
1CN  nSna  njj?a  pxi  pHS^n  amaxn  nnxi  xS  njni  oonn  ncN'  osn  p 
Nin  Dixni  13  nSnpja'  nD3nS  nxn  ais'  pi  asyn  oir  urx  '>3  nSnpn 
i3ini  Dmn  iisrs  n!:'jDn  nSci  pon  otf  xin  13  niD  h  cm  nxn  Dts* 
NiS  33S  Q3n  1D3  iNtnn  □a'  idd''  •ia'X3  ncoi  x'?  oxyn  oa*  ■>r3"\n 
oa'n  CDJ  ri>nx  nSn  n33  njm  icsy3  nnij?  Dspn  ■>3  inn  pnxi  idx'' 
i3ixim  nix3x  fii  uxxD  njm  osj?n  niDa?  nnija*  o  rvnix  nn  n33jn 
pn^  xS  nti  iSa*  X3X3  nix  xin  ix  xin  ospn  aa*  nix3X  '3  idiS  a''3T 
□en  ajj  IX  a^Sx  ay  ax  ■'S  'ijxxnn  xS  n3'7i  nix3sn  \nSx  njn  13 
1-n3  Ntin  13  mxax  C3\"iSx  01  -iij'>j;3  na'P''  Sxi  a^'jx  f"  lasjn 
Sy  nDiy  S3n  131  n3'7  naiy  ny  pia'  aa'na'  •ii3y3i  x>3jn  miy  nxi3jni 
cyoni  my  na'D  aSiy  in''  •ii3!'ii  tit  "^y  nxn  id3  aa'n  n?  xin  aya  p 
fi''  .—1331  oa'npn  c>3>-c'7cn  icy  a^pJT  ain^x  cii  p  "ry  ninycn  xina' 
niaysa'  nnixn  pxjn  nai  Sx  yiDa'S  naxn  "^xi  BTa'n  mx3x  an  nixas 
X3X  •?3i  nxnn  x?n  inix3s  nx  Tixsini  p  mxn  xiani  p  xnpj  Sxna" 
iinM  a^ai  pa's  Sy  xin  13  aa'n  ixn  a>nSx  njni  rh-i  a>iDiy  a'>Da'n 
piSdi  Sxia-i  ■>n'7x  a^nSx  nniS  icD'a'  myi  aica'  nau  niSx  xSn  103 
T11X3  ina*  nini  ina-  Sips  aoi  bid  Sipa  na'  n33i  q^pn  "^x 
The  rabbi  here  separates  a  shem  ha'etsem  and  j/ii'/w  hatoar,  or  a  proper 
noun  and  appellative,  by  four  marks.  First,  a  proper  noun  cannot  be 
made  a  verb  with  the  distinctions  of  past  and  future  time,  as  a  common 
noun  often  is.  We  cannot  say  to  a  friend,  Study  carefully  the  character 
of  Abraham  and  you  yourself  will  soon  be  Abrahaviivg.  Proper  nouns 
do  not  admit  of  such  inflection.  A  proper  noun  may  originate  from  a 
verb,  as  the  name  Isaac,  which  is  literally  he  will  laugh,  but  it  cannot 
bring  with  it  any  of  the  verb's  inflections.  Secondly,  an  appellative  ad- 
mits of  the  plural ;  a  proper  name  does  not,  because  it  is  unchangeably 
one.  If  a  name  has  originated  with  one  person,  and  it  now  passes  to  his 
children  or  descendants,  it  has  become  an  appellative.    Thirdly,  a  proper 


32  THE   TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

lative.  This  is  a  remarkable  concession,  as  it  appears  at 
first  sight  to  make  the  rabbinic  theology  flash  with  a  cer- 

noun  never  needs  the  definite  article  to  point  it  out.  It  cannot  be  said; 
in  Hebrew,  The  Abnikam.  The  phrase  "The  preacher,"  in  the  book 
of  Ecclesiastes,  is  not  an  exception,  because,  though  applied  to  only  one 
person,  it  is  properly  an  appellative.  Adam  is  made  a  shem  ioar,  an  ap- 
pellative, as  is  proved  by  the  use  of  the  article, — The  Adam,  which  means 
one  of  the  race.  Fourthly,  a  proper  noun  cannot  be  put  in  the  construct 
state.  The  phrase  is  not  admissible,  the  Isaac  of  a  generation,  if  the 
word  means  only  the  son  of  Abraham.  A  proper  noun  stands  limited 
and  defined  by  itself,  and  does  not  need  to  stand  in  the  construct  state 
with  a  noun  immediately  after  it  to  limit  it.  The  Divine  names  T^>r\n 
I-ivill-be  and  the  tetragrammaton  are  two  proper  nouns.  In  view  of  the 
phrase  jfehovah  of  hosts,  many  have  felt  compelled  to  say  that  Sabaoth, 
hosts,  itself  is  a  proper  Divine  name  in  apposition  with  the  tetragram- 
maton, or  that  it  was  a  sign  in  his  host ;  but  this  is  not  to  be  admitted, 
because  there  is  Elohe  Sabaoth,  clearly  proving  that  the  translation  must 
be  God  of  hosts,  and  we  never  find  it  except  with  the  tetragrammaton  or 
Elohim.  It  should  not  be  a  difficulty  that  Elohim  in  the  absolute  state  is 
once  found  immediately  followed  by  Sabaoth,  because  the  same  anomaly 
is  found  in  the  phrase  "  the  prophecy  of  Oded  the  prophet i'  if  the  original 
is  examined  (2  Chron.  xv.  8).  And  inasmuch  as  the  Lord  inhabits  eternity, 
and  exists  by  himself,  and  all  things  exist  in  him,  the  tetragrammaton  is, 
accordingly,  in  some  instances  like  an  appellative  after  the  model  of  "And 
he  remembered  the  days  of  old,  Moses,  his  people;"  and  its  meaning  is 
that  he  is  the  Maamid,  the  Establisher  of  beings,  the  Eternizer  of  hosts  ; 
and  so  with  Jehovah  Elohim  are  associated  the  holy  angels,  and  Jehovah 
of  hosts  refers  to  the  hosts  of  heaven.  Give  no  weight  to  the  words  of 
Gaon  assuming  that  the  host  of  Israel  is  meant,  and  depending  on  the 
verse,  "And  I  will  bring  forth  my  hosts,  my  people,  the  children  of  Is- 
rael" (Ex.  vii.  4) ;  but  rather  remember  the  verse,  "  All  the  host  of  heaven 
standing  by  him  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his  left."  (i  Kings  xxii.  19.) 
Mark  also  that  Elohim  (God)  is  an  appellative  as  it  occurs  in  both  num- 
bers, singular  and  plural. 

Aben  Ezra  might  have  added  as  another  evidence  that  Elohim  is  an 
appellative,  that  the  definite  article  is  in  some  places  prefixed  to  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  tetragrammaton,  I  suppose,  never  takes  the  article, 
and  it  never  can  be  literally  of  the  plural  number.  But  the  decisive 
proof  that  in  some  instances  it  is  a  shem  toar,  an  appellative,  is  the 
phrase  jfehovah  of  hosts,  or  its  construct  state  in  conjunction  with  the 
word  hosts.     These  are  proved  by  Aben  Ezra  to  be  the  celestial,  intelli- 


OF  THE    TETRAGRAMMATON. 


zz 


tain  trinitarian  hue.  There  are  two  theories  to  explain 
this  concession. 

I.  One  theory  is  that  the  shem  ha' etsem,  the  proper 
name,  was  the  original,  and  in  a  later  age  it  came  to  be 
also  an  appellative.  It  was  first  the  proper  exclusive 
name  for  the  Almighty,  designating  his  eternal  essence, 
and  then  the  later  Scriptures  made  it  a  common  noun. 

gent,  worshiping  hosts.  It  is  an  ancient  theory,  advocated  by  many 
rabbis,  that  the  naked  word  Sabaoth  is  one  of  the  Divine  names.  Possibly 
the  object  was  to  escape  from  the  admission  that  the  tetragrammaton  is 
in  any  instance  an  appellative.  Our  rabbi  shows  how  impartial  criticism 
compels  to  the  admission  that  it  is  both  a  proper  name  and  an  appellative. 
See  also  Aben  Ezra  on  the  sixth  chapter  of  Exodus. 

This  long  note  will  be  excused  on  account  of  the  great  importance  of 
this  one  point.  And,  to  illustrate  its  importance,  read  the  first  verse  of  the 
Epistle  of  James: — "  James,  a  servant  of  God  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  twelve  tribes  which  are  scattered  abroad,  greeting."  Here 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord  or  Kurios,  and  the  preceding  word  God  might 
have  had  the  word  Lord  also  connected  with  it,  which  proves  that  Kurios 
as  a  Divine  name  in  the  New  Testament  is  an  appellative ;  but  what  is 
the  result  if  the  original  tetragrammaton,  the  most  holy  and  ineffable 
name,  is  itself  found  to  have  the  same  appellative  character?  When  it 
once  proves  itself  an  appellative,  like  the  term  Kurios  in  the  verse  above, 
it  fatally  betrays  the  cause  of  unitarianism,  passes  into  the  ranks  of 
Trinitarians,  and  becomes  one  of  the  mighty  guns  in  that  camp.  At  least 
so  much  is  settled  beyond  dispute,  that  if  the  tetragrammaton  was  once 
the  proper  name — nomen  proprivm — for  God,  and  if  it  afterwards  be- 
came changed  into  an  appellative  or  common  noun,  still  retaining  all  the 
holiness  and  strength  of  its  first  import,  and  abounds  as  an  appellative,  in 
the  phrase  jfihovah  of  hosts,  through  the  later  Scriptures,  this  change 
was  a  mighty  step  towards  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament,  where  the 
Divine  name.  Lord,  is  a  real  appellative,  and  the  term  Lord  of  hosts  is 
shared  both  by  the  Lord  of  hosts  who  calls  the  sword  to  awake,  and  the 
man,  his  fellow,  the  shepherd,  the  Messiah,  whom  this  sword  must  smite.  If 
the  supreme  object  was  to  teach  the  unitarian  view  that  the  Deity  is  only 
one  person,  when  the  tetragrammaton  was  once  known  as  his  proper 
essential  name  it  should  have  been  left  there,  and  should  never  have 
been  changed  into  an  appellative ;  because  when  any  proper  name  is 
changed  into  an  appellative  the  impression  is  naturally  and  logically 
made  that  more  than  one  are  now  known  as  sharers  in  tlie  name. 
B* 


34  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

Adam  furnishes  a  good  illustration.  It  was  first  the 
proper  name  of  one  man;  but  afterwards  many  came 
under  this  name,  and  the  offerer  at  the  Jewish  altar  is 
mentioned  in  the  law  as  an  Adam.  If  the  holy  name 
Jehovah  was  ever  thus  expanded  so  as  to  embrace  two  ot 
more  persons,  it  is  important  to  remember  that  the  per- 
sons must  have  been  eternal  and  Divine,  because  this 
name  never  could  receive  any  meaning  carrying  it  out- 
side of  the  eternal  circle  of  Deity.  It  was  not  like  the 
appellation  Elohim  (God),  which  also  stood  for  heathen 
deities.  It  was  not  like  the  sublime  appellation  Holy, — 
and  it  was  his  highest  praise  that  his  name  was  Holy, — 
because  man  was  also  called  to  be  holy  in  conjunc- 
tion with  God.  It  was  not  like  the  appellative  Creator, 
because  Jupiter  might  be  called  the  Creator  in  Greek 
mythology.  The  tetragrammaton  never  could  *  become 
the  appellative  of  any  created  being,  and  still  less  could 
it  ever  be  transferred  to  any  false  god  or  any  deity  of 
imagination's  creation.  If  it  ever  stood  for  two  or  more 
persons,  these  persons  were  persons  within  the  eternal 
circle  of  the  Godhead.  Then  how  could  the  name  Je- 
hovah pass  from  the  proper  and  essential  name  of  one 
person,  so  as  to  become  a  common  name,  and  still  main- 
tam  the  impossibility  of  any  application  to  any  other 
person  than  the  original  one  ?  Was  a  proper  name  ever 
known  to  become  an  appellative  and  still  stand  for  only 
one  person  ?  Has  logic  ever  discovered  one  such  fact  ? 
The  name  Adam  could  not  become  an  appellative  until 
it  began  to  stand  for  more  human  persons  than  the  first 
man.  Caesar  was  originally  the  proper  name  of  one  per- 
son, and  it  passed  into  an  appellative  when  more  than 
one  were  Caesars.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  first  the 
proper  name  of  one  person ;  but  if  we  say  that  a  certain 
personage  is  the  Napoleon  Bonaparte  of  his  country,  the 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATON.  35 

word  is  instantly  made  an  appellative  and  loses  its  origi- 
nal restriction  to  only  one  person.  This  phrase,  the 
Napoleon  of  his  country,  contains  the  word  country  as  a 
limitation  of  the  word  Napoleon,  or  as  indicating  where 
this  particular  Napoleon  is  to  be  found;  and  so  in  the 
phrase  Jehovah  Sabaoth,  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  word  Je- 
hovah is  in  the  construct  state,  and  the  word  hosts  is 
joined  to  it  to  limit  it ;  but  no  proper  name  needs  to 
be  thus  limited,  because  it  is  itself  its  own  perfect  limita- 
tion. If  then  this  most  holy  m.mt  Jehovah  has  passed, 
like  other  proper  names,  from  a  proper  name  to  an  ap- 
pellative, behold  what  inferences,  adverse  to  unitarianism, 
appear  to  follow ! 

2.  The  other  theory  is  that  the  original  tetragrammaton 
was  the  appellative,  and  the  proper  Divine  name  grew  out 
of  it  in  a  later  age.  The  perfect  and  most  interesting 
illustration  of  this  theory  is  furnished  by  the  name 
Shaddai,  or  Almighty,  as  it  is  translated.  This  name 
Shaddai  is  classed  by  Aben  Ezra  among  the  Divine  appel- 
latives, on  the  ground  that  it  has  the  primary  meaning  of 
absolute  sufficiency  a.nd  unlimited  power ;  but  in  all  parts 
of  the  Bible  it  presents  itself  as  having  already  grown 
from  its  primary  meaning  into  the  perfect  state  of  a 
proper  Divine  name,  and  accordingly  it  fulfills  the  four 
laws  which  Aben  Ezra  lays  down  for  proper  nouns,  and 
never  presents  one  exception  to  them  :  first,  it  has  no 
variations  of  form  to  separate  past  and  future  times ; 
secondly,  it  is  never  of  the  plural  number,  unless  indeed 
the  impure  word  shadim  should  occur  as  its  plural,  which 
is  an  imagination  not  to  be  cherished  for  a  moment ; 
thirdly,  it  never  has  the  article  prefixed, — the  word  nari 
is  never  found  ;  and  fourthly,  it  never  appears  in  the 
construct  state,  and  hence,  while  Jehovah  Sabaoth  occurs 
very  often,  Shaddai  Sabaoth,  or  Shaddai  of  hosts,  never 


36  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

occurs  once.  This  last  point  presents  it  in  a  clear  light 
how  Shaddai  always  stands  as  a  proper  name,  while  the 
tetragrammaton  departs  from  it  and  takes  the  character 
of  an  appellative;  and  besides,  as  the  phrase  Jehovah 
Sabaoth  first  comes  into  existence  near  the  time  of  David 
and  abounds  in  the  later  Scriptures,  while  it  is  never  found 
with  either  Moses  or  the  patriarchs,  there  is  here  strong 
evidence  against  this  second  theory,  and  it  appears  as  if 
the  first  theory  must  be  the  true  one,  that  the  tetragram- 
maton was  originally  the  proper  name,  and  its  appellative 
character  was  its  development  in  later  ages.  But  on  the 
hypothesis  that  the  appellative  existed  originally,  and  the 
proper  name  grew  out  of  it, — on  the  hypothesis  that  the 
tetragrammaton  as  a  proper  name  is  a  derivative,* — the 

*  This  theory  that  the  word  jfehovah  is  a  derivative  of  some  event 
or  circumstance  appears  to  stand  in  diametrical  opposition  to  the  views 
of  Maimonides  in  the  More  Nebuchim,  part  first,  section  sixty-one.  I 
make  a  few  quotations.  antJJ  dSo  DnaD3  D''NXDjn  nSj;n>  T'niDB'  Vo 
'M'Ni  Ncrn  ni/v  rNini  nnN  at:'  kSn  13  oSpn  pxir  nn  nn  •m'^u'sn  p 
j^inc  ij"jp  ^c-!iaDn  aa'  N{-\pj  nrSi  rnSyn''  iS  nnrn  o^'  Nintr  No-n 
vmctt'  "isif.  DJDN  -nj  nionnirn  px  mxiaD  ns-iin  rjjn''  idxj;  Sj?  mv 
1DD  i:S   QniD3   NtXDi    DiVipflD   o>->uj   QnvnS  f\\r'ifi    onm   onjsjn 

JD  ItJJ  p  QJ  Win  Ntcn  VrNI  NiiTI  •Vf\>  13  HJIDDH  otrntf  ij;  1J-lN3a> 
nicp  unx  yixn  ijnN  C'-nh  -lai  rnmNn  All  the  names  of  the 
Most  High  found  in  the  books,  all  of  them,  are  derivatives  from  actions; 
and  this  is  not  to  be  concealed, — with  the  exception  of  one  name,  and  it 
is  the  yod  he  vav  he,  which  is  the  proper  name  for  the  Most  High,  and 
hence  it  is  called  the  shem  meporash,  meaning  that  it  conveys  a  pure 
conception  of  the  essence  of  the  Most  High  without  any  mixture.  But 
his  other  glorious  names  admit  a  participation,  in  their  being  derived 
from  actions  the  like  of  which  are  found  among  us,  just  as  we  have  already 
explained  that  Ado?iai,  the  substituted  word  for  yod  he  vav  he,  has  its 
origin  in  the  idea  of  lordship,  as  is  indicated  in  the  text,  "The  man,  the 
lord  of  the  land,  spake  roughly  with  us"  (Gen.  xlii.  30).  In  the  same  sec- 
tion the  verse  Zech.  xiv.  9  is  cited :  "  In  that  day  Jehovah  will  be  one,  and 
his  name  one;"  and  the  explanation  is  appended:  nna  Nin  idob*  S^T 
•■^ijj  Nini:>  NcSi  i^S  DX5?n  Sy  .— nmn  Nim  noS  nnN  Dira  in   Nip^   ?3 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATON. 


37 


question  arises,  What  might  have  been  the  prerogative 
or  event  or  circumstance  from  which  the  name  Jehovah 
originally  grew,  and  afterwards  ripened  into  the  proper 
essential  and  exclusive  name  of  the  Father  of  all  spirits? 
It  can  be  supposed  that  the  primary  meaning  was  the 
Worker  of  miracles  ;  and  that  Jehovah  of  hosts  means  the 
Upholder  of  the  celestial  realm  of  angels  in  their  glorious 
existence,  after  the  creation,  by  a  continual  miracle. 
Then,  if  the  theory  is  that  amazing  and  Divine  wonders 
first  placed  the  holy  name  on  the  lips  of  those  who  wit- 

nixxDjn  rmSiyon  •"dS  injin  niDty  qSo  ana*  nnx  nii  o^iyn  -.rnn 
OB'  iS  nin^  nS  Sya  Sod  d^'did  inrn  •'pj  icxj?  jnanco  djdx  -DSiirj 
Dtt'  uSxx  pxi  MDsy  SjJ  nmn*?  nnvD  nnx  du'  Son  rDijs  dicj  nuj 
."\1DJ  cniiJDn  Dt:'  Nin  iu'n  no-h  V/-ni  kh-h  nrcr  Nim  ni  kSn  itjj  ^nSa 
He  desires  to  say  that  as  he  is  one,  so  he  will  then  be  called  by  one  name 
alone,  and  it  will  refer  to  his  essence  alone,  and  will  not  be  a  derivative. 
In  the  Pirke  R.  Eliezer,  he  says,  "  While  the  world  was  not  yet  created, 
there  existed  only  the  Holy  Blessed  be  He,  and  his  name."  Remark 
well  how  he  brings  it  out  that  these  derivative  names  all  came  into 
existence  after  the  creation  of  the  world  ;  and  this  is  the  truth,  because  all 
depend  on  actions  of  God  found  in  the  world.  But  when  you  separate  the 
pure,  simple,  absolute  essence  of  God  from  every  action,  there  is  no  deriva- 
tive name  Left  to  him  in  any  sense,  but  only  the  one  particular  name  indi- 
cating his  essence.  And  we  have  no  name  aside  from  derivatives  except 
this  one,  and  it  \%  yod  he  vav  he,  which  is  the  absolute  definite  name. 

Further  on,  Maimonides  explains  how  this  absolute  definite  name  came 
to  be  pronounced  rarely  even  by  the  priests  in  the  temple,  and  how  the 
name  of  twelve  letters  came  to  be  pronounced  in  the  place  of  the  tetra- 
grammaton.  It  was  not  so  holy  as  the  tetragrammaton,  but  was  evidently 
more  holy  than  the  substitute  Adonai  which  is  now  universally  used. 
mm  niPB'  pijD  px  ,-nvnix  mtrj;  DinB*  p  Nin  -iit'x  p  dj  ott'n  T\-\y 
pff  /-[  r-ffha  niNlinD  ^^11D  nnv  p'^Jj;  *?!?.  The  other  holy  name  also 
came  into  use  as  a  substitute  for  the  tetragrammaton,  the  name  containing 
forty-two  letters.  This  had  also  a  degree  of  holiness  inferior  to  the  four- 
lettered  name.  The  rabbis  often  refer  to  these  two  great  names,  one  of 
twelve  letters,  the  other  of  forty-two,  but  very  rarely  is  any  attempt  made 
to  explain  them.  The  knowledge  of  them  was  confined  to  the  learned  and 
pious ;  and  persons  of  light  habits  of  thought  were  not  instructed  in  them. 

4 


38  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

nessed  them  ;  that  all  miracles  of  Divine  grace  and  moral 
government  properly  originate  in  the  tetragrammaton ; 
that  Moses  obtained  a  deeper  knowledge  of  this  name, 
and  hence  he  performed  the  greatest  wonders  and  had 
such  power  over  nature  as  no  one  had  had  before  him ; — 
and  if  it  is  a  part  of  this  theory  that  the  miracles  of  the 
six  days  of  creation  are  properly  the  wonders  of  Elohim 
(God),  and  hence  the  name  Jehovah  does  not  occur  once 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  but  first  comes  into  view 
in  the  second  chapter  and  after  the  mention  of  God's 
resting  on  the  seventh  day,  so  that  the  miracles  of  Jeho- 
vah are  really  of  a  higher  character  than  the  work  of  the 
six  days  of  creation,  and  rest  on  this  work  as  the  founda- 
tion ; — if  it  is  also  a  part  of  this  theory  that  the  term 
Jehovah  is  never  found  in  the  whole  book  of  Ecclesiastes 
because  there  is  no  reference  to  miracles  in  that  book, 
but  the  works  of  Cod  are  there  the  operations  of  nature 
as  established  in  the  creation,  without  any  addition  and 
without  any  diminution,  as  if  there  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun,  but  all  makes  one  mighty  stream  moving  by 
natural  laws:  it  will  not,  I  trust,  be  found  very  difficult 
in  my  next  letter  to  prove  that  this  whole  theory  may  be 
used  very  advantageously  to  illustrate  the  precise  meaning 
of  the  term  Son  of  God  as  it  appears  in  the  beginning  of 
the  New  Testament. 

The  chief  evidence  that  the  tetragrammaton  is  an  appel- 
lative in  some  places,  as  well  as  the  proper  essential  Divine 
name  in  others,  is  found  by  these  rabbis  in  the  phrase 
Jehovah  of  hosts.  These  hosts  may  refer  to  the  stars,  but 
they  are  rather  the  celestial  hosts  of  worshipers  before  the 
throne, — the  higher  and  still  higher  orders  of  holy  angels. 
A  very  wide  difference  separates  the  two  terms  Jehovah 
and  Jehovah  of  hosts.  The  former  is  the  essential  name  ; 
and  whether  he  is  found  existing  in  our  time,  or  existing 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATON. 


39 


back  in  eternity,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
before  the  first  dawn  of  the  morning  star,  before  the  first 
radiance  of  any  world,  he  has  the  same  perfect  and  un- 
changeable name  Jehovah.  This  name  is  the  same  mighty 
light  in  the  eternity  before  all  worlds  that  it  is  among 
the  worlds  of  time.  On  the  contrary,  the  term  Jehovah 
of  hosts  arises  from  a  union  of  the  Creator  with  his  crea- 
tion. The  hosts  were  first  created  before  their  Creator 
could  be  Jehovah  of  hosts.  The  term  has  the  eternity 
of  God  for  one-half  of  its  support,  and  the  high  realm  of 
created  and  celestial  intellect  for  its  other  support. 

If  the  phrase  should  come  into  use,  Willis  Lord,  the 
Lord  of  Wooster  University,  Ohio,  here  Lord  would  be  in 
the  first  place  a  proper  name,  in  the  second  place  an 
appellative.  The  first  is  the  proper  name  of  a  personal 
unity ;  it  has  been  his  name  through  all  life  back  to  his 
infancy,  and  it  will  be  his  name  till  his  last  day  on  earth, 
and  will  continue  to  be  his  name  as  long  as  his  memory 
remains  among  the  living ;  but  the  second  Lord  became 
his  appellative  only  a  short  time  ago,  and  long  after  his 
proper  name  had  become  illustrious  in  his  church,  and  it 
may  cease  to  be  his  appellative  long  before  his  death. 
And  this  may  illustrate  the  difference  between  Jehovah 
and  Jehovah  of  hosts, — how  the  former  is  the  proper 
essential  Divine  name,  while  the  latter  must  be  accepted 
as  an  appellative,  and  first  became  joined  to  the  essential 
name  only  as  far  back  as  yesterday  morning,  when  the 
morning  stars  first  began  to  sing  together.  It  may  also 
illustrate  the  trinitarian  relation  between  the  three  terms 
Jah,  Jehovah  of  hosts,  and  I-will-be-that-I-will-be.  The 
first  is  God  in  the  unlimited  unchangeable  past ;  the 
second  is  God  in  the  limited  hastening  present  moment 
of  angels  and  men  ;  the  third  is  God  in  the  unlimited 
future.     The  first  means  God  in  his  essential  and  eternal 


40  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

independence  before  he  had  performed  one  act  of  crea- 
tion ;  the  third  means  God  holding  the  same  independ- 
ence and  essential  glory  in  the  future,  even  if  all  the 
celestial  host  should  become  like  a  lamp  extinguished  and 
laid  away  in  darkness ;  I  will  be  that  I  will  be,  will  be 
gracious  to  whom  I  will  be  gracious,  and  will  show  mercy 
on  whom  I  will  show  mercy  ;  but  the  second  has  its 
place  between  these  two,  very  much  as  the  present  mo- 
ment has  its  place  between  two  infinite  oceans  of  time. 
And  the  venerable  patriarchal  name  Jehovah  contained 
the  germ  of  the  three  names  which  first  began  to  appear 
separated  in  the  time  of  Moses.* 

Let  Jehovah  of  hosts  then  be  called  one  of  time's 
names,  while  the  other  two  are  eternity's  names ;  and 
several  other  names  are  found  affiliated  with  Jehovah  of 
hosts,  and  belong  to  the  same  class.  The  God  of  Abra- 
ham is  a  term  belonging  to  the  same  class,  since  there 
could  not  be  the  God  of  Abraham  until  Abraham  was 
born.  The  Dweller  between  the  Cherubim  is  another 
term  of  the  same  kind  :  it  could  not  come  into  use  until 
the  mercy-seat  had  been  furnished  with  the  winged  cher- 
ubim. Another  term  of  the  same  kind  is  Jehovah-Tsid- 
kenu.    The   Lord  our  Righteousness,  occurring   in    Jer. 

■*"  It  needs,  nevertheless,  to  be  marked  here  that  the  proper  noun  Wil- 
lis Lord  has  not  furnished  a  good  illustration,  since  it  is  not  the  root  which 
produced  the  common  noun  lord  in  our  language;  and  indeed  we  see 
only  a  merely  accidental  connection  between  this  proper  and  this  common 
noun.  Not  such  as  this  is  the  connection  between  Jehovah  a  proper 
noun  and  Jehovah  the  common  noun,  between  this  shcm  ha'etsem  and 
this  shem  toar,  but  these  two  stand  in  the  most  essential  connection ;  as, 
for  example,  if  some  one  should  be  called  the  Moses  Montefiore  of  New 
York,  here  Moses  Montefiore  would  be  made  an  appellative  or  common 
noun,  having  as  its  root  the  proper  name  of  the  distinguished  English 
philanthropist.  We  leave  it  a  question  whether  Jehovah  the  appellative 
was  the  root  of  the  proper  name  or  the  derivative  of  it.  But  the  essential 
and  indissoluble  relation  between  the  two  cannot  be  questioned. 


OF  THE    TETRAGRAMMATON.  41 

xxiii.  6  as  one  of  the  names  of  the  Messiah.*  First, 
there  must  be  a  people  appropriating  the"  righteousness 
of  the  Lord  to  themselves,  and  then  God  can  have  the 
name  among  them,  Jehovah  our  Righteousness,  but  not 
sooner.  If  we  pass  on  to  the  New  Testament,  we  find 
there  terms  of  this  class  very  numerous.  The  Lord  Jesus 
is  one  of  them.  This  term  in  its  specific  sense  was  not 
heard  before  the  time  of  Mary  the  mother.  Jesus  Christ 
is  another  term,  referring  to  the  anointing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  can  be  traced  to  the  very  time  when  it 
originated.  Remember  that  the  name  Jehovah  has  its 
origin  in  the  infinite  vastness'of  eternity;  and  hence  we 
draw  a  line  between  it  and  these  other  terms  which  origi- 
nated at  particular  points  in  time. 

Jehovah  of  hosts  is  never  mentioned  in  all  the  writings 
of  Moses.  It  is  first  heard  close  to  the  time  of  David. 
Almost  the  first  sight  of  the  term  that  we  have  is  in  i  Sam. 
iv.  4:  "And  the  people  sent  to  Shiloh,  and  brought 
from  thence  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  Jehovah  of  hosts, 
the  Dweller  of  the  Cherubim."  In  a  foregoing  chapter 
it  is  recorded  that  the  parents  of  Samuel  brought  their 
sacrifices  regularly  to  Jehovah  of  hosts  in  Shiloh.  The 
term  had  come  into  general  use  in  the  time  of  David. 
The  magnificent  song  for  the  dedication  of  the  temple 
contains  it.  "Jehovah  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of 
glory:"  this  is  the  verse  closing  that  song.  The  term  is 
found  in  more  than  sixty  places  in  Isaiah.     It  has  not  yet 

*  Buxtorf,  in  his  Lexicon  Hebraicum  et  Chaldaicum,  under  the  tetra- 
grammatic  name,  presents  the  following  extract  from  the  Jewish  book, 
'Ikkarim,  Orat.  ii.  cap.  28 :  invnS  upnx  nin'  n-'Ji'cn  Df  ainon  ^n|1^1 
DJrn  UV1  inNipi  fa  Spi  it  Si?  arnn  pTin  j>t:'jtt'  Sn  ijixgn — that  is. 
The  Scripture  calls  the  name  of  the  Messiah  The  Lord  our  Righteousness, 
because  he  is  the  Mediator  of  God,  and  we  will  obtain  righteousness  from 
God  at  his  hand,  wherefore  he  is  called  by  the  name  of  the  telragram- 
maton. 

/I* 


42  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

reached  its  growth  ;  it  obtained  a  much  larger  growth  in 
a  later  age.  It  overshadows  the  later  books  much  more 
generally  than  it  does  Isaiah.  The  Babylonish  captivity 
brought  it  into  a  wonderfully  popular  use.  It  is  found 
scattered  through  Jeremiah  in  seventy-four  places.  It 
grew  into  still  more  common  use  after  the  captivity. 
Zechariah  has  it  among  the  first  words  of  his  book,  and 
uses  it  in  a  remarkable  way  to  expand  a  single  verse  ;  it 
is  the  third  verse  of  the  first  chapter:  "Therefore  say 
thou  unto  them,  Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts :  Turn  ye 
unto  me,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  and  I  will  turn  unto 
you,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts."  Zechariah  has  this  term 
in  fifty-three  places.  Haggai  has  it  in  thirteen  places. 
Malachi  has  it  in  twenty-four  places.  Haggai  has  a 
larger  use  of  the  term  to  a  hundred  verses  than  Zecha- 
riah has ;  and  Malachi,  the  last  prophet,  gives  us  the  term 
Jehovah  of  hosts  more  often  in  the  same  number  of  verses 
than  even  Haggai  does.  It  blooms  in  its  greatest  beauty 
and  strength  with  the  last  prophets.  It  has  no  such 
appearance  as  a  tree  that  has  finished  its  growth  and  is 
ready  to  wither.  It  has  the  appearance,  in  these  last 
prophets,  of  lights  thickly  set  along  the  shore  at  even- 
tide, and  this  is  the  shore  of  the  Hebrew  inspired  canon. 
It  is  as  the  sound  of  many  voices  heard  along  the  shore, 
and  all  uttering  a  cheerful  and  hopeful  good-night.  The 
night  passes  round,  and  the  shore  of  the  New  Testament 
becomes  visible  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and  there 
the  similar  terms.  Lord  Jesus  and  Jesus  Christ,  are  the 
morning  lights  scattered  about  as  thickly  as  the  term 
Jehovah  of  hosts  on  this  shore ;  and  they  are  like  many 
voices  on  a  new  shore,  or  rising  from  a  new  dispensation, 
and  saying,  Hail  to  the  morning !  and  their  good-morn- 
ing is  in  blessed  harmony  with  the  good-night  that  has 
sounded  along  this  shore. 


OF  THE    TETRAGRAMMATON.  43 

These  Divine  complex  names  that  join  the  Lord  with 
his  creation,  and  with  events  in  time,  certainly  cluster 
in  the  greatest  number  and  display  their  most  brilliant 
and  thickest  galaxy  over  that  narrow  space  where  the  last 
Hebrew  prophets  and  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
stand  closest  together. 

"Jehovah  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory."  So 
reads  the  last  verse  of  the  twenty-fourth  Psalm  ;  and  Aben 
Ezra  thought  that  this  verse  had  never  yet  seen  the  bril- 
liant day  appointed  for  it, — namely,  the  day  of  the 
Messiah.  The  psalm  was  doubtless  prepared  originally 
for  the  dedication  of  Solomon's  temple.  The  Lord  was 
to  come  into  the  temple  in  the  manifestations  of  his 
glory  and  take  possession  of  his  house.  The  cloud  did 
pass  into  the  holy  place  and  fill  it,  so  that  the  priests 
could  not  stand  before  the  vision.  That  was  the  hour 
when  the  stanza  was  to  be  sung,  ^^  Lift  up  your  heads,  O 
ye  gates;  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and 
the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is  this  King  of 
glory  ?  Jehovah,  strong  and  mighty,  Jehovah  mighty 
in  battle."  The  Lord  might  well  be  praised,  as  mighty 
in  battle,  within  the  courts  and  through  all  the  duration 
of  Solomon's  temple.  He  had  given  David  strength  in 
battle.  The  most  illustrious  kings  of  Judah  went  into 
battle,  as  leaders  of  hosts,  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord. 
The  glory  of  Judah  in  those  days  was  connected  with  the 
battle.  The  next  stanza  is  almost  a  repetition  of  this 
one;  yet  there  are  marked  differences.  "Lift  up  your 
heads,  O  ye  gates ;  even  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting 
doors ;  and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in.  Who  is 
this  King  of  glory?  Jehovah  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King 
of  glory.  Selah."  This  is  taken  by  Aben  Ezra  to  be  a 
stanza,  not  for  Solomon's  temple,  but  for  the  Messiah's, 
because  in  the  Messiah's  day  the  saints  on  earth  will  be 


44  THE    TRINITARIAN  CHARACTER 

made  like  the  angels,  and  so  the  Lord  will  then  be  em- 
phatically the  Lord  of  hosts,  even  on  earth.  The  stanza 
cannot  have  its  application  to  the  second  temple,  because 
the  Lord  never  took  possession  of  its  holy  of  holies  by  a 
miraculous  display,  and  the  Shekinah  never  spoke  from 
its  holy  apartment.  It  must,  therefore,  be  a  stanza  pre- 
pared especially  for  the  third  temple,  whiclx  the  Messiah 
will  build.  War  is  not  mentioned  in  this  last  stanza,  be- 
cause war  will  cease  under  the  Messiah,  swords  will  be 
changed  into  plowshares  and  spears  into  pruning-hooks, 
and  all  the  nations  will  dwell  quietly  in  universal  peace. 
In  Solomon's  temple  the  praise  of  the  Lord  as  mighty  in 
battle  was  appropriate,  but  a  different  praise  will  suit  best 
the  Messiah's  temple.  The  great  light  in  the  temple  then 
will  be  Jehovah  of  hosts,  of  angels  and  saints,  the  King 
of  glory. 

The  illustrious  commentator  appears  confident  that  Je- 
hovah of  hosts,  the  King  of  glory,  never  appeared  in  the 
second  temple,  and  therefore  a  third  temple  will  arise 
to  restore  to  Israel  the  glory  of  the  Shekinah.  True  it  is 
that  such  miracles  as  Solomon  witnessed  were  not  con- 
nected with  the  second  temple  in  its  first  days ;  neverthe- 
less, wondrous  events  drew  the  eyes  of  the  world  to  the 
second  temple  in  its  last  days.  One  did  appear  there 
driving  out  the  money-changers  from  its  courts  and 
claiming  it  as  his  Father's  house.  He  rode  to  the  temple 
as  the  King  of  Zion,  amid  universal  praises,  and  yet  in 
the  most  simple  humility.  He  gave  it  as  his  sign  that  the 
temple  should  be  destroyed  and  he  would  raise  it  up  in 
three  days;  and  he  meant  the  resurrection  of  his  own 
body  from  the  dead,  which  was  a  greater  miracle  than  it 
would  have  been  to  raise  that  gorgeous  temple  of  Herod 
up  from  ruins  in  three  days.  Greater  humility  never  ap- 
peared before  the  eyes  of  men,  yet  he  claimed  to  have 


OF   THE    TETRAGRAMMATOM. 


45 


the  services  of  the  hosts  of  heaven  at  his  call.  In  the 
most  awful  night  of  his  sorrow  he  prayed  that  the  Father 
would  glorify  him,  and  even  that  he  should  be  glorified 
with  the  Father's  own  self;  and  he  referred  to  that  glory 
which  he  had  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was. 
He  was  seen  alive,  and  then  crucified,  and  alive  again,  by 
many  witnesses.  The  voice  was  heard  at  the  temple, 
from  every  side,  that  the  gates  should  lift  up  their  heads, 
and  the  doors  should  be  wide  open,  to  receive  him  as  the 
King  of  glory.  Now  be  opened,  ye  doors  of  the  temple, 
be  opened  wide,  all  ye  gates  of  the  courts,  to  receive 
him  as  the  Lord  of  hosts,  as  having  all  power  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.  But  the  gates  and  doors  were  not  opened 
to  him ;  they  all  stood  locked  in  unbelief  against  him. 
Loving  and  believing  hearts  were  the  only  temples  where 
the  gates  and  doors  stood  open  that  this  King  of  glory 
might  enter.  That  temple,  in  locking  him  out,  locked 
darkness  up  within  itself,  to  become  only  worse  and 
worse.  It  shut  the  day  out,  and  shut  itself  up,  never 
again  to  be  opened  to  the  light.  It  passed  into  shadows 
and  into  thick  darkness,  and  all  the  horrors  of  dungeons 
dwelt  within  it.  The  Lord  needed  his  temple  no  longer. 
Its  lamps  soon  went  out ;  its  altars  ceased  to  send  holy 
joy  into  the  heart.  The  blood  of  lambs  at  its  altar  be- 
came the  same  as  the  blood  of  an  unclean  animal ;  and 
what  the  prophet  had  said  was  verified  :  "he  that 
sacrificeth  a  lamb,  as  if  he  cut  off  a  dog's  neck."  Isa. 
Ixvi.  3. 

M.  R.  M. 


LETTER    HI.- 

Worthy  Correspondent  : — 

Once,  in  looking  through  Homer's  Iliad,  I  noticed  par- 
ticularly that  the  word  oplsso,  in  Book  vi.,  line  352,  stands 
for  the  future  time,  though  its  proper  meaning  is  ^'■behind,^^ 
^'backward ;'^  and  this  appears  to  prove  that  in  classic 
authors  both  the  past  time  and  the  future  time  are 
assigned  to  the  region  of  the  back,  though  the  com- 
mon conception  is  that  the  future  lies  in  the  front 
rather  than  at  our  back.  It  occurred  to  me  that  this 
might  help  to  explain  the  answer  of  the  Lord  to  Moses 
when,  standing  at  the  rock  of  Horeb  after  the  worship  of 
the  golden  calf,  Moses  prayed  that  he  might  behold  the 
glory  of  the  Lord.  The  answer  was,  that  he  could  not 
behold  the  face  of  the  Lord,  for  no  man  could  behold  his 
face  and  live,  but  he  might  have  the  sight  of  his  back 
parts,  and  when  he  should  be  within  the  inclosure  of  the 
rock  the  Lord  would  pass  by  before  him,  and  first  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  should  be  interposed  so  that  he  should 
not  see  the  face,  and  then  it  should  be  removed  so  that 
he  might  look  after  the  Lord  and  behold  his  back  parts. 
Since  God  is  a  spirit,  it  would  appear  that  his  face  and 
his  back  parts  ought  to  be  found  in  time,  rather  than 
in  space.  If  the  great  name  Jehovah  has  the  present 
tense  in  its  centre,  the  face  of  God  ought  then  to  be  the 
centre  of  the  tetragrammaton,  while  the  Ehyeh  asher  Eh- 
yeh,  I-will'be-that-I-tuill-be,  standing  on  one  side  for 
the  infinite  future,  and  the  Jah,  standing  on  the  other  side 
46 


THE   SON  OF  GOD  AND    THE   RESURRECTION.    47 

for  the  infinite  past,  may  be  taken  as  the  back  parts.  The 
hand  of  the  Lord  would  lie  over  the  name  Jehovah  to 
intercept  its  central  radiance ;  and  especially  would  it 
cover  and  conceal  that  Jehovah  which  was  new  to  Moses 
and  had  not  been  known  to  the  patriarchs ;  and  in  the 
enumeration  of  Divine  titles  which  was  communicated  to 
Moses  within  the  fissure  of  the  rock, — "  Jehovah,  Jehovah, 
God,  merciful  and  gracious," — the  Divine  hand  would 
lie  completely  over  this  second  tetragrammaton,  and  the 
profound,  impenetrable  mystery  would  be  in  the  connec- 
tion of  this  second  with  the  first.  Or  the  term  which 
came  into  use  in  later  ages,  Jehovah  of  hosts,  was  the  per- 
fect face  of  God  which  the  Divine  hand  covered  so  that 
Moses  could  not  see  it,  and  it  is  the  radiant  face  of  God 
which  communicates  all  the  blessedness  of  the  present 
moment  to  all  the  hosts  of  heaven,  while  the  Jah,  which 
fills  the  past  eternity  before  any  host  of  heaven  began  to 
exist,  belongs  to  the  back  parts  of  God,  and  the  I-will-be- 
that-I-will-be,  filling  the  future  eternity,  belongs  also  to 
the  back  parts. 

It  must  here  occur  to  you  as  a  striking  coincidence 
that  the  name  Jehovah  is  never  pronounced  in  the  syna- 
gogue, and  no  strictly  orthodox  Jew  would  venture  to 
utter  it  at  any  time.  The  synagogue  views  it  as  a  word 
wrapped  in  a  cloud  and  committed  to  the  custody  of  the 
Divine  hand,  as  if  it  is  too  holy  and  mysterious  ever  to  be 
pronounced,  and  too  brilliant  to  be  admitted,  like  other 
words,  to  the  gaze  of  mortals.  It  is  never  pronounced 
according  to  its  letters,  but  alcph  daleth  nun yod  2^0.  sub- 
stituted iox  yod  he  vav  he,  and  its  vowels  are  declared  to 
be  the  vowels  of  another  word,  transferred  to  it.  It  holds 
neither  its  own  letters  nor  its  own  vowels,  as  the  voice 
uses  it;  and,  in  Hebrew,  the  letters  make  the  body  or 
frame  of  the  word,  while  the  vowels  are  the  soul.     It  was 


48  THE   SON  OF  GOD 

given  to  Moses  as  the  name  of  God  forever,  but  the  syna- 
gogue has  given  another  meaning  to  this  expression, 
namely,  that  it  is  the  name  to  be  kept  concealed,  the 
name  to  be  hidden  always  under  another  name,  and  never 
to  be  pronounced  as  its  own  letters  would  require.  The 
Talmud  lays  down  the  law,  in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Aba 
Shaul,  that  those  pronouncing  the  name  Jehovah  accord- 
ing to  its  own  letters  are  cut  off  from  the  blessedness  of 
the  future  world.  Remember  Rabbi  Chanina,  son  of 
Theradion,  and  his  wife,  how  he  was  condemned  to  be 
burnt  on  the  pile,  and  she  was  to  lose  her  life  by  the 
sword  \  and  what  were  their  crimes  ?  His  crime  was  that 
he  had  s^ad  Jehovah  and  not  Adonai,  and  his  wife's  fault 
was  that  she  had  not  restrained  him.  Such  being  the 
teaching  of  the  Talmud,  it  is  no  wonder  that,  through 
many  long  centuries,  it  has  always  been  considered  the  most 
horrible  wickedness  to  attempt  to  pronounce  the  tetra- 
grammaton  in  the  synagogue,  while  the  other  names  Eh- 
yeh  asher  Ehyeh  and  Jah,  though  equally  holy,  have  their 
own  vowels,  and  are  pronounced  according  to  their  own 
letters  and  vowels  without  any  hesitation.  The  sound  of 
Jehovah  is  as  completely  banished  from  the  synagogue  as  is 
the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  no  synagogue  will  ever 
begin  to  pronounce  the  name  Jehovah  in  its  worship, 
until  Jesus,  as  the  Son  of  God,  begins  to  be  preached  in  it. 
These  two  terms  have  been  banished  to  equal  and  opposite 
distances  from  the  synagogue,  one  as  far  towards  a  holy 
heaven  as  the  other  towards  an  unholy  sphere,  and  when- 
ever either  of  them  comes  back  into  the  synagogue  the 
other  will  certainly  come  with  it. 

The  New  Testament  has  similar  ideas  connected  with 
the  veil  which  Moses  placed  over  his  face  when  he  spoke 
to  the  people  and  they  could  not  behold  his  beaming 
face.     They  could  not  look  forward  to  that  great  end 


AND    THB:   resurrection. 


49 


which  the  separation  of  the  Hebrews  from  all  other 
nations  had  in  view.  Their  worship  presented  before 
them  very  many  beautiful  and  holy  pictures ;  but  they 
could  not  look  away  beyond  to  those  lines  which  should 
be  left  written  on  the  face  of  a  distant  age,  when  all 
these  pictures  would  already  be  taken  down.  They  could 
not  see  that  the  true  glory  of  Moses  consisted  in  his  con- 
nection with  the  Son  of  God  who  should  be  revealed. 
The  apostle  Paul  says  that  the  same  veil  still  continues  oh 
their  eyes  when  they  hear  the  Scriptures  of  Moses  read  in 
the  synagogues.  When  they  truly  turn  to  the  Lord,  then 
the  veil  will  be  removed,  and  they  will  see  that  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  law  was  only  a  preparation  for  a  more 
glorious  dispensation.  The  veil  between  the  eyes  of  the 
people  and  the  face  of  Moses,  and  the  Divine  hand  be- 
tween Moses  and  the  face  of  the  Lord,  doubtless  had  the 
same  meaning.  The  face  in  the  centre  of  the  tetragram- 
maton,  that  is,  the  face  of  the  Son  of  God,  could  not 
then  be  clearly  revealed  either  to  the  people  or  to  Moses. 
The  Mosaic  system  was  a  luminary  in  an  eclipse,  it  was  a 
great  light  with  a  dark  cloud  in  its  centre,  and  only  the 
corona  was  shining  :  the  hand  of  God  was  this  dark  cloud 
covering  the  centre  of  the  tetragrammaton,  concealing  its 
face,  holding  back  its  strongest  light. 

The  Son  of  God  is  not  found  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
except  with  a  veil  over  his  face.  It  is  easier  to  find  God 
the  Creator,  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  than  to  find  the  Son  of  God.  Whatever  may 
be  the  strength  of  our  argument  for  the  Trinity,  founded 
on  the  Divine  names  Adonai,  Jehovah,  Elohim,  and 
Kedoshim,  the  veil  is  still  left  covering  the  centre  of  the 
Trinity;  and  whatever  maybe  the  transcendent  clearness 
of  the  argument  of  the  apostle  in  the  first  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the  Son 
c  5 


50 


THE   SON  OF  GOD 


of  God  to  the  angels, — which  argument  combines  seven 
texts  cited  from  the  Hebrew  Bible,  four  of  them  referring 
to  the  Son  of  God,  two  to  the  angels,  and  one  to  God 
the  Creator, — still,  the  apostle  himself  must  leave  the  Son 
of  God,  in  all  parts  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  with  the  veil 
covering  his  face.  Every  attempt  to  find  him  there 
is  like  an  attempt  to  look  at  the  light  above  the  mercy- 
seat  and  between  the  cherubim  when  the  cloud  from 
Aaron's  censer  had  filled  the  holy  of  holies.  It  is  like 
an  attempt  to  discern  an  object  when  a  cloud  is  between 
and  a  Divine  hand  has  interposed. 

And,  further,  philosophy  must  assent  to  this  view  of  the 
face  of  God  and  his  back  parts,  as  being  the  most  reason- 
able. Our  mortal  eyes  can  gaze  at  the  sun  as  it  is  just 
rising,  or  as  it  is  setting,  but  no  one  can  look  up  into  the 
sun  at  noon  without  danger  to  the  eyes.  Moses  might 
behold  Jah  as  the  luminary  rising  up  from  the  depths  of 
the  past  eternity  and  making  all  that  eternity  the  seat  of 
his  glory,  and  he  might  behold  him  as  holding  in  perfect 
subjection  to  his  holy  will  the  most  distant  future  that 
ever  enters  man's  imagination ;  but  to  behold  him  as  the 
God  of  the  present  time  rather  than  of  the  distant  past  or 
the  distant  future — to  behold  him  as  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
in  whom  all  the  hosts  of  the  universe  live  and  move  and 
have  their  being — might  be  to  look  up  directly  into  his 
face ;  it  might  be  to  look  up  into  the  luminary  in  the 
zenith,  above  all  the  heads  of  men  and  angels  :  and  this 
might  be  the  vision  which  no  mortal  eyes  could  bear. 

But,  with  these  fanciful  interpretations  now  laid  aside, 
I  address  myself  to  the  more  solid  argument,  namely,  to 
prove  that  the  New  Testament  has  written  th'e  name  Son 
of  God  in  the  brilliant  centre  of  the  tetragrammaton,  or 
that  Jehovah,  as  meaning  specifically  the  face  of  God  in 
contradistinction  to  his  back  parts,  has  become  the  Son 


AND    THE   RESURRECTION. 


SI 


of  God  in  the  New  Testament.  I  would  show  how  Chris- 
tianity rends  the  holy  veil  of  the  temple  from  the  top  to 
the  bottom,  and  introduces  light  into  the  cloud  and  dark- 
ness that  filled  the  most  holy  chamber,  and  points  to  the 
precise  space  over  the  mercy-seat  and  between  the  cher- 
ubim, and  the  words  written  there  in  flashing  letters.  The 
Son  of  God,  the  King  of  Israel ;  and  then  it  may  follow 
that  he  was  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  with  power, 
"  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead." 

The  first  evidence  to  be  adduced  is  found  in  the  first 
chapter  of  John's  gospel:  "In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was 
God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God.  All 
things  were  made  by  him ;  and  without  him  was  not  any- 
thing made  that  was  made.  In  him  was  life;  and  the 
life  was  the  light  of  men.  .  .  .  And  the  Word  was  made 
flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father),  full  of  grace 
and  truth."  The  Word  existed  in  eternity  as  being  with 
God,  and  as  being  God;  but  in  time  he  took  to  himself  a 
true  human  body  and  a  reasonable  soul,  and  thus  the  Word 
became  flesh  to  dwell  among  us.  The  eternal  glory  made 
the  assumed  human  nature  the  candlestick  from  which  it 
should  shine.  The  phrase  "full  of  grace  and  truth"  is 
transcribed  from  the  proclamation  to  Moses,  "The  Lord, 
the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and 
abundant  in  goodness  and  truth;"  and  it  here  has  the 
same  connection  with  the  only-begotten  Son  that  the 
original  phrase  has  with  the  Lord,  the  Lord  God. 

Another  evidence  is  furnished  by  the  account  of  the 
temptation  of  Jesus  in  the  wilderness  immediately  after 
his  baptism.  That  was  the  first  of  all  the  battles  through 
which  Christian  doctrine  has  passed ;  and  that  whole 
battle   had   for   its   ground   the   name  Son  of  God,   as 


52  THE   SON  OF  GOD 

claimed  by  Jesus.  It  was  unitarianism  which  then  made 
its  first  furious  drive  against  the  name  Son  of  God.  If 
this  name  can  only  be  wrapped  in  a  cloud,  then  all  Chris- 
tianity is  banished  from  the  light  back  into,  a  dark  cloud. 
Only  strike  the  word  Son  of  God,  and  you  wound  Chris- 
tianity in  its  head,  in  its  most  vital  part,  and  threaten  it 
with  the  most  deadly  wound.  A  doubt  concerning  the 
name  Son  of  God  is  the  worst  shadow  that  ever  falls  on 
the  Christian  system.  The  mighty  enemy,  the  old  ser- 
pent, knew  what  he  was  doing  when  he  tried  to  connect 
the  term  Son  of  God  with  some  kind  of  doubt.  That 
battle  of  the  wilderness  proceeded  in  this  style:  If  thou 
be  the  Son  of  God,  then  let  one  thing  be  the  consequence  ; 
and  again  :  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  things  might  all 
result  in  a  certain  way.  The  first  thing  to  be  gained  by 
the  attacking  party  was  to  get  some  kind  of  an  if  joined 
to  the  Son  of  God.  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  the  very 
name  implies  that  thou  hast  the  plenary  power  of  miracle  ; 
then  change  these  stones  into  bread  by  a  word,  and  save 
thyself  from  starvation.  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  all 
the  forces  of  nature  are  at  thy  command,  all  the  hosts  of 
heaven  obey  thee,  and  all  thy  life  will  flow  onward  in  the 
channel  of  miracles;  and  hence  if  thou  shouldst  let  thy- 
self drop  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  thou  wouldst 
fall  in  perfect  safety.  Look  out  over  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  their  glory:  thou  claimest  to  be  the  Son  of 
God,  and  consequently  the  heir  of  all  things;  but  accept 
me  as  thy  patron,  and  all  shall  be  made  over  to  thee  in  a 
moment. 

The  whole  passage  has  this  merit,  that  it  demonstrates 
what  meaning  the  term  Son  of  God  carried  from  the  be- 
ginning: it  meant  the  supreme  Worker  of  miracles,  the 
Lord  of  the  celestial  hosts,  and  it  has  already  been  proved 
that  the  appellative  meaning  of  Jehovah  is  precisely  the 


AND    THE  RESURRECTION.  53 

same.  It  was  this  meaning  of  the  name,  Son  of  God, 
that  caused  it  to  be  so  intensely  hated  and  feared  from 
the  beginning. 

Another  evidence  lies  in  the  defense  of  Jesus  when  he 
was  blamed  for  a  miracle  on  the  sabbath.  "Jesus  an- 
swered them.  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
(John  V.  17.)  Jesus  claimed  the  present  seventh  day  as 
his  own  time,  and  wrought  miracles  with  the  same  free- 
dom which  the  Father  had  in  constructing  the  world. 
The  Jews  were  enraged  not  only  because  he  had  broken 
the  sabbath,  but  because  he  had  called  God  his  Father, 
making  himself  equal  to  God. 

This  same  point  is  proved  by  that  remarkable  saying 
of  Jesus  recorded  in  John  viii.  58:  "Jesus  said  unto 
them,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Before  Abraham  was, 
I  am."  Jesus  thus  enshrined  himself  in  that  present  tense 
which  forms  the  centre  of  the  adorable  tetragrammaton. 

The  New  Testament  having  thus  seated  Jesus  as  the 
Son  of  God  in  the  brilliant  centre  of  the  tetragram- 
maton,— that  centre  which  was  covered  by  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  before  the  eyes  of  Moses,  so  that  he  could  not 
see  it,  but  which  poured  its  light  through  the  hand,  and 
consequently  the  hand  itself  eventually  became  luminous 
and  ceased  to  be  intercepting, — a  question  arises.  What 
has  the  term  Son  of  God,  in  this  high  dignity,  done  for 
the  world  ?  has  it  sent  forth  a  celestial  light  among  all 
nations?  Let  a  moment  be  given  for  the  answer  of  the 
question.  It  has  caused  thrones  of  tyranny  everywhere 
to  tremble,  and  banished  idolatry  and  polytheism  from 
the  face  of  the  earth,  as  the  shades  of  the  night  flee  be- 
fore the  rising  sun.  The  gorgeous  temples  of  idolatry 
throughout  the  mighty  Roman  empire  fled  before  it, 
the  altars  of  Jupiter  and  Minerva  ceased  to  smoke,  the 
heathen  oracles  passed  into  silence.  It  aroused  all  the 
5* 


54  THE  SON  OF  GOD 

opposition,  of  mighty  Rome,  and  endured  centuries  of 
the  most  bloody  persecution;  but  early  in  the  fourth 
century  it  triumphed,  and  saw  at  its  feet  the  most 
colossal  and  mighty  system  of  idolatry  on  the  earth. 
All  the  wisdom  of  Greek  philosophers,  all  the  magic 
of  Greek  poetry,  and  all  the  strength  of  Rome  could 
not  preserve  a  single  god  or  a  single  goddess  of  the 
old  system  as  a  living  deity.  The  Jews  themselves  at  the 
present  time  hardly  have  any  life  better  than  a  dog's  life 
in  those  countries  where  this  name  is  not  known,  or 
where  it  is  nearly  the  same  as  a  name  unknown, — that  is, 
not  understood  as  the  apostles  understood  it.  It  has 
gone  among  the  people  of  an  island  shrouded  in  the 
darkest  clouds  of  heathenism,  oppressed  by  their  invisi- 
ble horrible  demons,  and  by  their  bloody  tyrants  in  the 
shape  of  men,  and  has  taught  them  the  most  sublime  and 
useful  lessons  in  religion  and  human  rights,  and  raised 
them  to  the  position  of  a  light  for  all  the  world,  and 
placed  among  them  a  press  issuing  more  printed  Hebrew 
Bibles  in  one  year  than  all  the  Bibles  of  Palestine  during 
any  thousand  years  while  the  Hebrews  occupied  that  land 
as  their  home.  If  this  new  name,  Son  of  God,  holds 
the  centre  of  the  Godhead  without  any  right  to  that 
place,  then  here  is  idolatry  destroying  itself,  Jupiter 
slaying  Jupiter,  Satan  casting  out  Satan,  the  emjoire  of 
idolatry  divided  against  itself;  and  such  a  kingdom  can- 
not stand.  This  itself  proves,  as  Jesus  said,  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  has  indeed  come  to  you. 

But  the  infallible  sign  confirming  the  right  of  Jesus  to 
be  placed  as  the  Son  of  God  in  the  centre  of  the  Trmity, 
or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  in  the  brilliant  centre  of  the 
tetragrammaton  where  God  has  his  face,  was  best  given 
by  Jesus  himself  at  the  first  passover  of  his  public  min- 
istry, when  the  Jews  demanded  his  right   to  enter  the 


AND    THE   RESURRECTION. 


55 


temple  and  claim  it  as  his  Father's  house  and  drive  out 
the  money-changers.  His,  answer  was,  "Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up."  (John  ii. 
19.)  The  truth  of  all  the  distinctive  and  essential  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  depends  on  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus :  if  he  did  arise,  all  is  proved  to  be  true  \  if  he  did 
not  appear  alive  after  his  passion,  all  is  a  tissue  of  tlie 
worst  and  most  stupid  falsehoods.  The  disciples  tell  of 
more  than  seven  times  when  he  appeared,  and  the  reality 
of  his  appearance  could  not  be  doubted.  He  appeared 
first  to  Mary  Magdalene,  the  Sunday  morning  after  his 
crucifixion,  when  another  woman  was  on  the  same  ground 
and  not  far  from  her ;  he  appeared  to  ten  disciples  to- 
gether, and  at  another  time  to  the  eleven,  and  a  third 
time  to  the  eleven  at  Jerusalem ;  he  appeared  to  seven  of 
them  at  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  at  another  time  to  five 
hundred  brethren  in  Galilee.  He  walked  with  them,  sat 
with  them,  ate  with  them,  conversed  with  them,  and 
offered  his  person  to  their  touch  and  closest  inspection. 

The  Talmud  mentions  his  crucifixion  at  the  passover, 
and  the  accusation  against  him  ;  but  I  suppose  that  we 
have  no  report  from  the  Jews  concerning  his  resurrection 
except  that  which  Matthew  furnishes,  that  they  bribed 
the  soldiers  who  had  had  his  body  in  custody  through 
the  night,  to  say  that  his  disciples  came  by  night  and 
stole  him  away  while  they  were  asleep,  and  that  they  suc- 
ceeded in  making  this  story  current  among  themselves. 

All  this  story  of  the  women  and  the  disciples  must 
have  been  told  publicly  and  universally,  to  friends  and 
enemies,  within  the  fifty  daj^s  between  the  crucifixion 
and  the  pentecost.  It  was  such  a  story  that  it  had  to  be 
told  at  the  very  time,  or  it  never  could  have  gained  any 
credit.  If  it  had  been  first  mentioned  as  late  as  the  day 
of  pentecost,  the  universal  answer  would  have  been  that 


56  THE   SON  OF  GOD 

if  it  were  true  it  would  certainly  have  been  heard  many 
days  before  ;  and  every  day  later  than  this  pentecost  only 
gave  a  stupendous  increase  to  the  difficulty  of  gaining 
any  credit  for  the  story  if  it  had  not  been  current  at  an 
earlier  date.  The  rabbis  who  lived  while  the  apostles 
were  still  alive  have  given  us  in  the  Talmud  the  desig- 
nation of  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  "the  day  of  the 
Nazarene;"  and  this  indicates  that  wherever  a  Nazarene 
became  known  the  story  of  the  resurrection  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week  accompanied  him.  There  was  no  fact 
more  universally  received  among  Christians  from  the 
beginning,  as  being  true  beyond  all  question,  than  the 
resurrection  on  the  third  day.  There  was  no  event  more 
publicly  proclaimed  or  exhibited  in  a  stronger  light  of 
supreme  importance.  After  the  third  day  from  the  cru- 
cifixion no  one  could  pretend  to  be  a  believer  in  Jesus  who 
did  not  admit  the  truth  of  the  resurrection.  If  the  story 
was  not  true,  the  disciples  have  not  the  excuse  of  enthu- 
siasm, but  they  must  have  been  willful  liars  of  the  most 
depraved  character.  It  is  very  true  that  a  crazy  imagi- 
nation may  conjure  up  the  most  exciting  marvels  in  rela- 
tion to  ghosts  and  communications  from  departed  spirits 
by  means  of  sounds  and  moving  tables  and  in  other 
ways;  but  all  such  marvels  leave  the  old  body  undisturbed 
in  the  grave.  Or  if  it  is  asserted  that  the  body  has  risen 
alive,  and  search  is  made  and  the  grave  is  found  empty, 
then  either  this  is  a  real  resurrection,  or  there  is  some  most 
flagrant  dishonesty,  some  strange  foul  play,  in  the  matter. 
A  crazy  enthusiasm  has  never  been  known  to  make  graves 
really  empty.  If  the  disciples  reported  that  they  feund 
in  the  sepulchre  the  linen  clothes,  and  the  napkin  wrapped 
up  and  laid  away  from  them  by  itself,  and  that  his  body 
was  seen,  the  same  day,  alive,  when  the  truth  was  that 
they  had  taken  his  body  out  and  left  the  clothes,  the 


AND    THE   resurrection: 


57 


dishonesty  and  barbarity  of  their  character  sink  to  the 
most  contemptible  grade.  There  was  the  most  extreme 
stupidity  connected  with  this  dishonesty.  Nothing  can 
be  more  stupid  than  to  suppose  that  they  could  use  that 
wounded  and  decaying  body  to  make  a  respectable  name 
for  themselves  in  the  world.  The  Pharisees  and  Jews 
who  crucified  him  can,  on  this  supposition  of  fraud,  be 
easily  proved  to  be  as  much  implicated  in  the  fraud  as 
were  the  disciples.  They  had  it  in  their  power  to  expose 
the  fraud.  They  could  have  produced  the  lifeless  body, 
could  have  laid  it  before  the  eyes  of  witnesses,  and  this 
would  have  instantly  brought  the  story  of  the  resurrec- 
tion to  silence  and  shame.  It  was  on  the  second  or  third 
morning  of  the  passover  feast  that  the  resurrection  should 
have  occurred  ;  the  full  moon  had  been  shining  all  night ; 
the  city  was  crowded  with  strangers,  and  doubtless  per- 
sons were  walking  every  street  at  all  hours  in  the  night ; 
and  if  the  friends  did  get  the  body  from  the  sepulchre 
that  night  without  being  seen,  the  poor  Galilean  disciples 
had  no  home  in  or  near  the  city  where  they  could  have 
lodged  the  body  so  that  the  Jews  could  not  find  it,  and 
they  had  no  grave  where  they  could  bury  it  and  their 
work  escape  notice.  They  had  no  place,  either  under  the 
ground  or  above  the  ground,  to  which  the  Jews  could 
not  easily  have  tracked  the  body.  And  if  they  had  had 
all  the  knowledge  of  chemistry  which  Massachusetts  now 
possesses,  they  could  not  have  made  the  body  disappear 
in  flames  and  smoke  and  escape  the  eyes  of  the  Jews. 
If  the  resurrection  was  not  a  reality,  the  body  could  have 
been  found,  and  the  Jews  ought  to  have  produced  it ;  and 
by  neglecting  this  matter  they  stand  equally  guilty  with 
the  disciples  in  the  greatest  fraud  that  has  ever  gone  forth 
in  the  world  from  apostates  and  liars.  The  argument 
here  is  that  the  resurrection  must  be  true,  because,  if  it  is 


58 


THE   SON  OF  GOD 


not,  no  men  ever  were  more  contemptible  and  willful 
deceivers  than  the  disciples,  and  the  Jews  are  equally- 
responsible  for  the  success  of  the  fraud.  If  Jesus  arose 
from  the  dead,  the  accusation  of  blasphemy  on  which  he 
was  crucified  is  proved  to  be  false.  This  resurrection 
proves  that  he  had  the  right  to  call  himself  the  Son  of 
God,  and  that  he  had  the  right  to  say  that  he  had  the 
power  to  lay  down  his  life  and  the  power  to  take  it  again, 
and  the  right  to  say,  "  No  man  taketh  it  from  me ;  but  I 
lay  it  down  of  myself." 

Some  scholars  attach  no  particular  value  to  miracles  as 
a  confirmation  of  the  truth  :  they  argue  that  if  a  thing  is 
true  it  needs  no  miracle  to  prove  it  true,  and  if  it  is  not 
true  the  most  stupendous  miracles  bring  it  no  help.  But 
here  one  most  glorious  fact  is  strangely  overlooked, 
namely,  that,  through  all  the  universe,  omnipotence  and 
holy  truth  stand  together  in  close  sympathy.  Omnipo- 
tence gives  its  hand  to  the  truth,  but  it  never  gives  its 
hand  to  help  a  lie.  The  lie  may  indeed  have  a  wonder- 
ful power  at  its  command  to  help  it  on,  but  this  is  always  a 
limited  power,  and  omnipotence  is  never  found  on  its  side. 
Omnipotence  always  goes  with  the  truth,  and  never  be- 
trays it,  because  it  is  sacredly  and  eternally  wedded,  both 
in  heart  and  in  law,  to  the  truth.  If  Jesus,  after  his  cru- 
cifixion and  the  wound  in  his  side  by  the  spear  which 
pierced  to  his  heart,  was  alive  on  the  third  day  with  the 
wound  perfectly  healed,  omnipotence  restored  his  life, 
and  no  power  short  of  omnipotence  could  have  done  it ; 
and  thus  omnipotence  placed  the  seal  of  its  own  appro- 
bation on  his  declaration  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God  for 
which  he  died. 

Here  let  one  other  argument  be  added,  especially  for 
you,  my  worthy  correspondent,  as  a  living  teacher  in 
Israel.     The  miracles  of  your  own  Bible  are  not  believed 


AND    THE   resurrection:  59 

by  the  prominent  rabbis  in  America ;  they  are  even  openly 
rejected,  and  are  surely  doomed  to  death,  except  as  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  furnishes  a  hope  that  they  may  ag^in 
come  to  life  among  your  people  and  bloom  in  power  and 
beauty  as  they  once  did.  When  the  orthodox  doctrine 
concerning  miracles  dies  out  from  your  people,  it  still 
continues  to  bloom  in  the  Christian  church  by  virtue  of 
the  power  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus ;  and  your  rabbis  who 
now  avowedly  reject  miracles  cannot  be  expected  ever  to 
come  back  to  the  orthodox  faith  except  on  that  path  which 
the  women  traveled  to  the  sepulchre  when  they  found 
that  the  body  was  not  there  and  learned  that  Jesus  was 
alive.  When  you  deny  the  reality  of  miracles,  you  may 
as  well  call  the  whole  Bible  a  book  of  heathenism.  If 
there  was  no  miracle  on  that  day  when  the  decalogue  was 
given  at  Mount  Sinai,  if  the  thunder  and  fire,  and  the  trem- 
bling of  the  mountain,  and  the  distinct  voice  which  uttered 
the  commandments,  and  the  engraving  of  the  command- 
ments on  two  tables  of  stone,  were  all  without  any  mira- 
cle, then  the  whole  account  has  precisely  the  same  kind 
of  truth  in  it  that  is  in  Homer's  story  of  the  descent  of 
Jupiter  in  his  chariot  to  Mount  Ida,  where  he  diffused  a 
dense  vapor  all  around  him,  and  sent  his  lightnings  flash- 
ing in  the  face  of  the  Greek  warriors,  and  held  up  at 
noon  the  golden  scales  with  the  lot  of  death  for  the  Tro- 
jans at  one  end  and  the  lot  of  death  for  the  Greeks  at  the 
other  end,  and  the  Greek  lot  sat  heavy  on  the  ground, 
while  the  Trojan  lot  mounted  to  high  heaven.  Your  own 
Bible  must  see  its  miracles  placed  in  the  same  category 
with  mythological  stories,  it  must  become  a  heathen  book 
in  your  hands,  unless  you  become  a  people  converted  to 
the  faith  in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus. 

M.  R.  M. 


LETTER    IV. 

Distinguished  Hebraist: — 

I  come  now  to  lay  before  you  my  argument  founded  on 
another  Divine  name  in  the  Shetnah  Yisrael,  the  name 
Elohim  ;  and  I  must  now  look  at  the  text  in  a  new  light, 
thus:  "Hear,  O  Israel;  Jehovah,  our  Elohim,  is  one 
Jehovah." 

This  word  is  properly  of  the  plural  number,  as  if  it 
ought  to  be  translated  our  Sovereigns ;  its  principal  idea 
is  that  of  power  or  supreme  control.  The  two  Divine 
names  of  the  Shemah  Yisrael  are  inscribed  at  the  head  of 
the  ten  commandments.  To  bring  the  original  words 
out  so  as  to  be  more  clearly  seen,  we  must  read  thus :  "  I 
am  Jehovah  thy  Elohim,  who  have  brought  thee  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage;"  and  in 
the  next  verse  the  same  word  is  clearly  of  the  plural  num- 
ber :  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  Elohifft  before  me." 
All  the  people  were  familiar  with  the  word  in  its  plural 
meaning,  as  is  evident  from  their  language  in  the  adora- 
tion of  the  golden  calf.  They  said,  "These  are  thy 
Elohim,  O  Israel,  who  have  brought  thee  up  from  the 
land  of  Egypt."  (Ex.  xxxii.  4.)  If  it  be  suggested  that 
in  the  phrase  other  Elohim  it  is  the  adjective  other,  being 
of  the  plural  number,  and  agreeing  with  it,  that  proves 
it  plural,  and  in  this  last  verse  it  is  the  plural  verb  have 
brought  and  the  plural  pronoun  these,  both  agreeing  with 
it,  that  prove  its  real  plurality,  it  is  a  truthful  answer  that 
precisely  the  same  argument  can  be  adduced  to  prove  the 
60 


THE   PLURALITY  OF  ELOHIM.  6 1 

real  plurality  of  the  holy  name  ;  because,  though  in  almost 
all  instances  the  adjectives  and  verbs  agreeing  with  Elo- 
him,  when  it  means  the  living  and  true  God,  are  of  the 
singular  number,  yet  in  some  instances  this  holy  name 
has  its  adjective  in  the  plural  number  and  its  verb  in  the 
plural  number.  If  the  following  texts  are  examined  in 
the  original, — Gen.  xx.  13,  Josh.  xxiv.  19,  Deut.  v.  26, 
Jer.  x.  10,  Jer.  xxiii.  36,  2  Sam.  vii.  23,  the  phrases  will 
be  found, — '' Ehhifn  caused  me  to  wander  from  my 
father's  house, ' ' — ' '  holy  Elohim, ' ' — "  the  living  Elohim, ' ' 
— "the  words  of  the  living  Elohim,  the  Lord  of  hosts," 
— "Israel  whom  Elohim  went  to  redeem  for  a  people  to 
himself," — in  each  of  which  there  is  either  a  verb  or 
an  adjective  of  the  plural  number  agreeing  with  Elohim. 
This  is  a  good  indication  that  the  word  must  not  be  in- 
terpreted as  divested  of  all  plurality  when  it  stands  for 
the  one  true  God. 

The  word  in  the  singular  number  is  Eloah,  this  word 
Elohim  being  its  plural.  This  Eloah-  occurs  forty-one 
times  in  the  book  of  Job.  This  book  evidently  unfolds 
to  us  the  rich  treasures  of  the  patriarchal  theology,  a 
theology  earlier  than  that  of  Moses  by  several  centuries. 
It  contains  sublime  allusions  to  the  flood,  but  no  allusion 
to  the  redemption  from  Egypt,  or  any  event  belonging  to 
the  life  of  Moses,  or  any  later  event.  The  length  of  the 
life  of  Job  was  such  as  existed  in  the  time  of  Jacob ;  but 
men  did  not  live  so  long  in  the  time  of  Moses.  It  is 
consequently  proved  that  the  Divine  name  Eloah  was  in 
very  common  use  among  the  patriarchs  in  the  time  of 
Job,  and  it  came  down  to  Moses  invested  with  an  august 
and  most  sacred  antiquity.  But,  with  all  its  recom- 
mendations, he  was  very  careful  how  he  touched  it.  He 
laid  it  aside,  and  took  the  plural  word  Elohim,  and  com- 
menced   his   account   of  creation   with    this   word,   and 

6 


62  THE   PLURALITY 

wrote  it  down  thirty-twj  times  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis.  He  wrote  that  most  sacred  patriarchal  word 
Eloah  only  twice  in  all  his  five  books,  and  these  two 
tjmes  belong  to  one  chapter,  namely,  the  thirty-second 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy :  the  word  occurs  twice  in  the 
sublime  song  of  Moses  contained  in  that  chapter.  Moses 
acted  towards  that  word  like  a  man  going  out  to  sea,  who 
loves  an  old  friend  buried  on  the  shore,  and  takes  two 
pictures  of  his  friend  to  beautify  the  side  of  the  ship  and 
keep  the  old  friend  in  remembrance.  So  Moses  placed 
the  ancient  and  sacred  Eloah  in  two  places  in  that  sub- 
lime poetry,  to  be  a  remembrancer  of  a  holy  antiquity; 
but  he  did  not  allow  it  to  have  any  other  place.  This 
indicates  how  fur  it  was  from  his  mind  to  build  up  a  uni- 
tarian system,  because  if  this  had  been  his  object  \}oit  Eloah 
was  vastly  the  preferable  word.  All  later  writers  accepted 
the  hint  from  Moses,  to  keep  the  good  unitarian  word  out 
of  use ;  since,  according  to  Buxtorf's  Concordance,  the 
word  occurs  in  all  the  Bible  only  sixteen  times,  outside 
of  Job,  in  which  it  occurs  considerably  more  than  twice  as 
often  as  it  appears  in  all  the  other  books  of  the  Bible. 

Cognate  to  this  Eloah  is  the  Divine  name  El,  likewise 
of  the  singular  number,  and  equally  expressive  of  the 
unity  of  God.  It  occupied  the  first  place  among  the 
patriarchs ;  it  stood  in  front  of  all  holy  names.  In  the 
year  before  the  birth  of  Isaac,  God  appeared  to  Abraham 
and  said  to  him,  "  I  am  El  Shaddai  [God  Almighty]  ; 
walk  before  me,  and  be  thou  perfect."  (Gen.  xvii.  i.) 
The  heathen  soothsayer  Balaam  placed  it  in  the  front  of 
holy  names,  and  used  it  eight  times  in  his  four  brief  poet- 
ical deliverances.  Job  likewise  sets  it  in  the  front,  and 
in  many  of  his  verses  it  occurs  in  the  first  line,  and  the 
second  distich  has  Shaddai  [Almighty]  corresponding  to 
it.     An  example  occurs  in  Job  xxxV.  13  : 


OF  ELOIIIM. 

"  Surely  El  will  not  hear  vanity, 
Neither  will  Shaddai  regard  it." 


63 


It  is  eminently  the  holy  name  throughout  the  body  of 
the  book  of  Job.  Moses  dislodged  it  from  its  supreme 
place  in  patriarchal  theology,  and  filled  its  place  with  the 
doubly  trinitarian  tetragrammaton,  while  Elohi'm,  of  the 
plural  number  and  indicative  of  the  plurality  of  the 
Deity,  was  made  the  substitute  for  Shaddai.  He  dis- 
lodged it  from  the  zenith,  and  assigned  to  it  a  subordi- 
nate position  not  very  far  from  the  horizon  :  as  in  the 
decalogue,  where  it  is  written  some  distance  below  the 
trinitarian  terms  at  the  head,  and  comes  in  as  the  noun 
with  which  the  adjective  jealous  agrees,  giving  us  the  ex- 
pression a  jealous  El;  and  as  in  the  revelation  to  Moses 
in  connection  with  the  second  tables  of  the  law,  where 
the  tetragrammaton  is  written  twice  at  the  head,  and  El 
follows  as  the  noun  to  which  the  adjectives  are  joined : 
^^  El,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  abundant  in 
goodness  and  truth."  In  tlie  tenth  chapter  of  Deuter- 
onomy there  again  appears  to  be  this  same  difficulty  in 
connecting  adjectives  directly  with  the  tetragrammaton 
or  with  plural  Divine  names ;  hence,  after  the  words 
"For  the  Lord  your  God  is  the  God  of  gods  and  the 
Lord  of  lords,"  when  the  adjectives  "great,"  "mighty," 
and  "  terrible  "  must  be  used,  the  word  ^/ comes  in,  that 
they  may  be  joined  to  it ;  and  to  make  the  original  plu- 
rality of  the  words  before  it  visible  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, we  must  read,  "  For  Jehovah  your  Elohim,  he  is 
Gods  of  gods  and  Lords  of  lords."  And  so  when  the 
unity  of  God  comes  forth  in  the  most  distinct  and  pecu- 
liar emphasis,  when  it  shines  out  in  its  most  distinctive' 
lustre,  when  it  presents  its  sharpest  antagonism  to  all 
polytheism,  the  plural  names  are  still  preferred  to  those 
of  the  singular  number,  and  where  an  English  ear  hears. 


(54  THE   PLURALITY 

"  O  give  thanks  unto  the  God  of  gods  ;  for  his  mercy 
endureth  forever.  O  give  thanks  to  the  Lord  of  lords ; 
for  his  mercy  endureth  forever,"  the  Hebrew  ear  receives 
the  words  Elohe  Haelohim,  Adone  Haadonim,  every  one 
of  them  of  the  plural  number,  and  requiring,  as  an  exact 
translation,  Gods  of  gods  and  Lords  of  lords.  See  Ps. 
cxxxvi.  2,  3. 

Another  patriarchal  name,  intensely  of  the  singular 
number  and  inflexibly  repugnant  to  all  plurality,  strongly 
expressive  of  the  unity  of  the  Dejty,  is  Shaddai,  the  origi- 
nal of  the  English  word  Almighty.  It  occurs  thirty-one 
times  in  Job.  The  oracles  of  the  heathen  soothsayer 
Baalam  contain  it  in  two  places.  The  good  woman 
Naomi  brought  it  with  her  back  into  Israel  after  she  had 
lived  many  years  among  the  heathen,  and  uttered  it 
twice.  Moses  left  it  entirely  beyond  and  below  the  hori- 
zon of  his  theology  ;  he  could  not  permit  it  to  occur  even 
once  in  his  laws,  or  his  prophecies,  or  his  poetry,  or  any 
part  of  the  Bible  which  was  properly  his  own  fre^i  and 
free  composition.  He  permits  it  to  occur  six  times  in 
Genesis  as  a  most  holy  name  with  the  patriarchs  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob.  He  writes  it  twice  as  a  word 
spoken  by  Balaam.  He  writes  it  once  as  a  word  belong- 
ing to  a  communication  from  the  Lord,  in  Ex.  vi.  3  : 
"And  I  appeared,"  says  the  Lord,  "unto  Abraham, 
unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  oi  El  Shaddai ; 
but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them."  In 
vain  you  search  for  this  word  in  any  other  verse  of  the 
pentateuch.  The  best  of  all  holy  names  for  the  building 
up  of  a  unitarian  system  of  theology  was  this  name  Shad- 
dai;  and  if  a  complex  term  is  preferable,  the  most  ap- 
propriate of  all  for  unitarian  theology  is  El  Shaddai. 
But,  though  this  complex  term  came  to  Moses  invested 
with  the  highest  sacredness,  as  used  by  Abraham  and 


OF  ELOHIM.  65 

Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  placed  by  Job  in  the  brilliant  front 
of  all  holy  names,  he  would  not  touch  it ;  he  would  not 
see  it  written  even  once  in  all  the  heavens  and  earth  of 
the  proper  Mosaic  theology.  It  continued  always,  after 
the  time  of  Moses,  to  be  a  word  almost  banished  out  of 
use ;  and  I  may  here  raise  the  question  whether  it  occurs 
more  than  twice  in  all  the  book  of  Psalms. 

These  graphic  facts  prove  that  Moses  never  intended 
to  furnish  Israel  with  a  system  of  unitarian  theology. 
The  best  Divine  names  for  the  teaching  of  Unitarianism 
he  banished  almost  completely  from  his  school  and  books, 
and  took  in  their  place  names  of  unquestionable  plurality, 
such  as  Elohim,  Adonai,  and  Adonim,  words  which  Uni- 
tarians cannot  consistently  use,  and  which  they  never 
pretend  to  use,  except  figuratively,  or  as  plurals  of 
majesty,  or  out  of  politeness  to  the  multitude  of  heathen 
idols. 

It  is  infinite  injustice  to  Moses  to  say  that  he  wished  to 
furnish  his  nation  with  the  sentence,  "Hear,  O  Israel: 
Shaddai  our  El  is  one  Shaddai,"  as  their  Divine  motto 
and  watchword.  What  he  wished  was  to  banish  the  patri- 
archal name  Shaddai  completely  out  of  sight  from  the 
whole  sphere  of  the  distinctive  Mosaic  system ;  and  he  had 
his  wish.  Yet  this  outrageous  injustice  is  precisely  what 
all  the  synagogues  of  the  world  are  now  doing  to  Moses 
by  their  Unitarianism  ;  inasmuch  as  they  admit  no  Trini- 
tarianism  and  no  real  plurality  in  the  Adonai  and  the 
Elohim,  and  make  them  really  of  the  singular  number,  as 
Shaddai  is,  and  interpret  them  as  being  of  the  same  im- 
port. 

There  was  no  old-fogyism  with  Moses.  He  did  not 
make  it  the  study  of  his  life  to  be  able  to  tell  what  Rabbi 
Jacob  said  in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Isaac,  what  Rabbi  Isaac 
said  in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Abraham,  or  what  Rabbi  Terah 

6* 


66  THE   PLURALITY 

said  in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Noah :  his  aim  was  to  furnish 
those  new  sayings  which  should  be  the  life  of  the  future, 
and  give  light  and  joy  to  the  millions  who  should  arrive 
on  the  shore  of  being  ages  after  he  had  fallen  asleep  in 
death.  It  was  not  his  aim  to  have  his  name  glow  in  the 
shadow  of  some  ancient  patriarch,  but  he  sent  his  name 
forward  to  the  distant  future  ages.  He  was  progressive 
in  the  highest  sense  of  the  term.  It  is  a  most  significant 
fact  that  the  God  who  sent  him  back  to  Egypt  gave  as 
his  name  I-will-be'that-I-wiU-be ;  he  was  the  God  of 
future  ages,  and  Moses  was  to  become  the  man  of  the 
future.  When  he  started  out  on  the  sea,  he  left  the 
shores  of  patriarchal  theology  behind  him,  having  the 
ne\v  name  of  Jehovah,  which  had  not  been  known  to  the 
patriarchs,  at  the  head  of  the  mast,  to  guide  him  ;  and  he 
boldly  went  out  on  the  vast  ocean  to  find  a  new  world  and 
higher  Elysian  fields  of  theology  directly  under  the  sun, 
which  the  patriarchs  had  died  without  seeing. 

This  ship  was  constructed  only  for  the  voyage ;  it  was 
not  to  be  either  the  house  or  the  temple  on  the  new 
Elysian  fields.  The  altar  sprinkled  with  blood  was  not 
to  last  always.  Lambs  and  goats  were  not  always  to  feed 
the  fire  on  the  altar.  The  worship  by  bloody  sacrifices 
was  an  excellent  institution  for  certain  ages,  but  the  world 
was  to  outgrow  the  need  of  such  a  worship.  The  man 
who  prays  that  the  altar  and  bloody  sacrifices  may  be 
restored  to  Jerusalem  certainly  does  not  understand  where 
the  world  now  is  or  how  it  has  been  moving. 

Far  in  the  distance,  on  that  ocean  of  the  future,  was 
the  little  isle  of  Patmos.  We  find  on  this  isle  the  prophet 
John,  the  Revelator,  who  wrote  the  last  book  of  the  New 
Testament.  Moses  is  the  other  great  prophet,  who  wrote 
the  first  book  of  the  Bible.  Let  us  see  if  this  first  pro- 
phet and  this  last  prophet  can  here  meet  and  speak  in 


OF  ELOHIM. 


67 


harmony.  The  first  sounds  that  are  heard  on  Patmos  are, 
"Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  him  which  is,  and 
which  was,  and  which  is  to  come."  Tiiis  is  the  tetra- 
grammaton  itself  unfolded  according  to  the  abstract 
Trinity  which  lodges  in  it.  This  is  the  ineffable  name 
translated  into  Greek,  that  name  most  holy,  even  holy, 
holy,  holy,  which  was  inscribed  as  the  highest  name  on 
the  flag  which  Moses  unfurled.  What  sound  comes 
next?  "And  from  the  seven  Spirits  which  are  before 
his  throne."  The  seven  Spirits  are  the  round,  full- 
orbed,  complete  name  for  the  one  Spirit  of  God,  the 
Holy  Ghost.  They  are,  as  the  Hebrew  prophet  Zecha- 
riah  says,  the  seven  eyes  of  the  Lord  which  run  to  and 
fro  through  the  whole  earth.  They  are  the  seven  lamps 
burning  before  the  eternal  throne.  They  are  that  spirit 
of  the  Lord  which  Isaiah  says  should  rest  upon  the  Son 
of  David ;  and  this  prophet  pictures  them  as  being  the 
holy  candlestick  with  seven  burners :  first,  at  the  top  of 
the  main  shaft,  and  as  the  centre  of  all  and  above  all,  is 
the  spirit  of  the  Lord ;  and  then,  a  little  lower,  on  the 
right  side  and  the  left,  are  the  two  lamps  the  "spirit  of 
wisdom  and  understanding;"  these  count  three:  then,  a 
little  lower  and  a  little  farther  off,  on  the  same  sides,  the 
two  lamps  the  "spirit  of  counsel  and  might;"  these 
count  five :  then,  still  lower  and  still  farther  off,  on  the 
same  sides,  the  two  lamps  the  "spirit  of  knowledge  and 
of  the  fear  of  the  Lord  ;"  and  these  fill  up  the  number  of 
seven.  We  have  supposed  that  the  Divine  name  I-will-be- 
that-I-will-be  means  especially  this  same  Spirit,  or  the  seven 
eyes  of  the  Lord  which  penetrate  all  the  infinite  future.  If 
this  is  correct,  these  seven  Spirits  unfold  the  distinct  mys- 
tery at  the  beginning  of  the  tetragrammaton.  The  words 
that  next  follow  are  these:  "And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who 
is  the  faithful  witness,  and  the  first-begotten  of  the  dead, 


68  THE   PLURALITY 

and  the  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  Unto  him  that 
loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 
and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his 
Father."  His  Father  !  This  appears  to  mean  God  of  tlie 
past  eternity,  God  before  all ;  and  if  so,  it  is  the  Jah  at 
the  other  extremity  of  the  tetragrammaton.  And  so,  with 
the  seven  Spirits  of  God  at  one  end,  and  the  Eternal 
Father  at  the  other  end,  let  us  now  scrutinize  all  that  lies 
between,  and  give  particular  attention  to  the  interjacent 
central  Person,  inasmuch  as  the  space  that  he  fills  here 
appears  to  be  the  centre  of  the  tetragrammaton. 

He  is  "  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness."  Just 
as  the  present  day  gives  us  the  voice  of  all  the  past,  and 
truthfully  represents  the  past,  so  Jesus  as  the  faithful  wit- 
ness is  the  voice  from  eternity,  the  voice  of  eternal  wis- 
dom, counsel,  and  love. 

He  is  "the  first-begotten  of  the  dead."  Not  strictly 
the  first-begotten  of  the  dead  in  the  chronological  sense, 
because  some  had  awaked  from  the  dead  previously  to  his 
resurrection ;  but  the  first-begotten  of  the  dead  in  the 
sense  of  supreme  dignity.  He  is  the  first-begotten  very 
much  as  Joseph  became  the  first-born  of  Jacob  though  he 
was  not  his  father's  eldest  son.  He  is  like  another  Joseph 
cast  out  from  his  brethren ;  "he  came  unto  his  own,  and 
his  own  received  him  not;"  and  the  words  which  Jacob 
addressed  to  Joseph  as  his  first-born  are  very  applicable  to 
this  first-begotten:  "The  archers  have  sorely  grieved 
him,  and  shot  at  him,  and  hated  him:  but  his  bow  abode 
in  strength,  and  the  arms  of  his  hands  were  made  strong 
by  the  hands  of  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob."  O  ye  people 
of  Israel !  when  you  read  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  the 
prophet  Zechariah,  "  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David, 
and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of  grace 
and  of  supplications ;  and  they  shall  look  upon  me  whom 


OF  ELOHIM.  69 

they  have  pierced,  and  they  shall  mourn  for  him,  as  one 
mourneth  for  his  only  son,"  and  your  rabbis  tell  you 
that  this  predicts  the  death  of  the  Messiah,  the  son  of 
Joseph,  who  will  fall  in  battle,  will  you  not  turn  your 
thoughts  to  this  other  son  of  Joseph  whose  hands  and 
side  were  pierced?  He  has  been  hated,  so  that  the  Tal- 
mud tells  how  he  has  been  reported  to  be  in  hell,  suffer- 
ing from  the  heat  there,  with  the  most  horrible  filth 
seething  all  around  him;  but  hear  his  title  at  Patmos, 
^' the  first-begotten  of  the  dead,''  the  highest  one  among 
all  that  have  been  made  alive  from  sin  unto  God  and 
triumphed  over  the  penalty  of  sin  which  is  found  in  death 
and  the  grave. 

He  is  "the  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth."  He  is 
not  only  the  first-begotten  in  the  great  world  of  the 
righteous  and  blessed  dead,  but  he  is  the  prince  of  living 
kings  on  earth.  He  is  supreme  among  all  who  have  been 
raised  to  life  from  a  moral  death,  and  he  is  supreme  in 
all  that  living  world  which  traces  its  origin  back  to  the 
agitated  chaos  at  the  beginning  of  our  creation. 

"Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our 
sins  in  his  own  blood."  Here  comes  the  live  coal  from 
off  the  Divine  altar,  and  it  touches  the  lips  of  the  prophet 
John,  as  it  once  touched  the  lips  of  Isaiah.  Neither  of 
these  prophets  can  speak  except  as  there  is  the  altar  to 
send  its  coal  to  his  lips  and  as  there  is  the  vision  of 
atoning  blood  at  the  altar.  John  beholds  the  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  The  remission  of 
sins  is  still  by  the  shedding  of  blood. 

Everything  looks  as  if  Moses  has  come  to  meet  John 
here  on  Patmos  and  rejoice  in  this  clearer  revelation  of 
the  triune  God.  As  straight  as  ever  a  ship  cuts  a  path 
from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  Moses  started  for  this  point, 
and  moved  steadily  through  all  the  storms  on  the  sea  of 


70 


THE   PLURALITY  OF  ELOHIM. 


fifteen  hundred  years,  for  this  harbor  of  Patmos.  His 
back  turned  to  the  patriarchal  shore  indicates  this.  His 
back  turned  to  the  best  terms  expressive  of  the  unity  of 
God,  as  Eloah  and  El  and  Shaddai  and  El  Shaddai,  in- 
dicates this.  The  transcendently  trinitarian  tetragram- 
maton,  floating  in  the  wind  over  his  ship  at  the  highest 
point  of  the  mast,  indicates  this.  His  marked  choice  of 
the  Divine  names  of  unquestionable  plurality  indicates 
this.  But  Unitarianism  would  turn  his  ship  right  around, 
and  send  it  back  into  the  old  patriarchal  harbor  whence 
it  started.  M.  R.  M. 

Note. — The  patriarch  Melchizedek  appears  to  have  preferred  the 
Divine  name  El  to  all  others.  "And  Melchizedek  king  of  Salem 
brought  forth  bread  and  wine ;  and  he  was  the  priest  of  El  most  high. 
And  he  blessed  him,  and  said,  Blessed  be  Abram  of  El  most  high,  pos- 
sessor of  heaven  and  earth:  and  blessed  be  El  most  high,  who  hath  de- 
livered thine  enemies  into  thy  hand.  And  he  gave  him  tithes  of  all." 
Gen.  xiv.  18-20. 


LETTER    V. 

My  learned  Correspondent:  — 

Each  of  the  Divine  names  which  have  been  examined 
diffuses  a  peculiar  light  through  all  the  great  text  of  the 
Unity,  the  Shemah  Yisrael.  Let  each  name  be  taken  by 
itself,  as  follows : 

First,  the  name  Adonai. 

Hear,  O  Israel :  The  three  persons  that  appeared  to 
Abraham  the  day  before  the  overthrow  of  Sodom  were 
his  holy  Adoiiai :  they,  as  being  Jehovah,  conversed 
with  him  ;  and  this  most  holy  name  does  not  appear  to 
have  belonged  to  any  one  of  them  more  than  to  the 
other  two ;  they  appear  equal  in  wisdom,  power,  and 
glory,  in  the  dignity  of  their  name,  the  effulgence  of 
mercy,  and  the  blaze  of  vengeance ;  they  appear  insepa- 
rable, as  seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  verse,  "And 
Jehovah  rained  upon  Sodom  and  upon  Gomorrah  brim- 
stone and  fire  from  Jehovah  out  of  heaven"  (Gen.  xix. 
24)  ;  as  if  the  one  who  had  conversed  with  Abraham,  and 
had  not  manifested  himself  to  Lot,  and  was  in  the  invisi- 
bility of  the  heavenly  state  when  Sodom  was  overthrown, 
is  to  be  considered  as  having  been  present  and  co-operat- 
ing with  the  other  two  who  bore  the  same  name,  Jehovah, 
and  who  visibly  led  Lot  out  from  the  city  and  brought 
the  fire  on  the  place.  Yet  know  that  all  this  does  not 
mean  tritheism  in  any  sense:  the  Divine  essence  is  one. 

Secondly,  the  tetragrammaton. 

71 


72         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

Hear,  O  Israel :  He  who  is  Jehovah,  in  whom  all  the 
past  eternity  and  all  the  future  has  its  existence,  and  in 
whom  lives  the  transient  present  moment, — even  that 
never-dying  present  moment  in  which  all  created  beings 
have  the  whole  of  their  consciousness, — He,  neverthe- 
less, has  all  the  infinite  past  and  all  the  infinite  future 
together  as  being  only  one  moment  with  him, — as  being 
his  present  moment,  one,  indivisible,  and  unchangeable. 

Hear,  O  Israel :  Consider  and  understand  that,  though 
the  great  name  Jehovah  did  first,  in  the  presence  of  Moses, 
that  greatest  prophet  who  knew  God  face  to  face,  myste- 
riously develop  itself  into  three  distinct  Divine  names, 
namely,  the  Jah  referring  to  the  past,  and  the  Ehyeh  asher 
Ehyeh  referring  to  the  future,  and  the  interjacent  Jehovah 
which  was  not  known  to  Abraham,  that  is,  not  known 
precisely  in  this  peculiar  form,  and  though  these  three 
names  are  equally  Divine,  perfect,  and  glorious,  equally 
incomprehensible  and  incapable  of  being  ever  transferred 
to  any  being  of  the  whole  creation,  and  impossible  to  be 
substituted  one  for  another, — yet  the  unity  of  Jehovah, 
as  held  by  the  patriarchs,  remains,  and  these  three  are 
essentially  one. 

Thirdly,  the  name  Elohim. 

Hear,  O  Israel :  The  names  Elohim  and  Adonim,  of 
the  plural  number,  with  many  others  of  the  plural  number 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  were  clearly  preferred  as  names 
for  God  by  Moses  and  the  prophets  who  followed,  and 
they  rose  to  be  great  lights  in  the  heavens  of  Judaism, 
while  the  venerable  names  El  and  Eloah  and  Shaddai,  of 
the  singular  number  and  the  patriarchal  age,  descended 
close  to  the  horizon  and  almost  fell  beneath  it;  but  these 
holy  names  of  the  patriarchal  time  are  radiant  with  the 
most  essential  truth,  and  the  luminous  monotheism  so 
beautifully  expressed  by  them  must  ever  be  maintained ; 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN.  73 

and  he  who  is  Elohim  the  plurality  is  also  El  the  unity; 
he  who  is  Adonim  the  plurality  is  also  Shaddai,  the  One, 
the  Almighty,  the  Unity.  It  may  be  a  plurality  of  forms 
of  being  or  of  centres  of  internal  relations,  but  it  is  a 
unity  of  inner  being,  a  unity  of  uncreated  life  and  unde- 
rived  omnipotence  and  moral  perfection  and  boundless 
love. 

Such  is  the  trinitarian  interpretation  of  the  great  text 
the  Shemah  Yisrael :  and  here  the  two  interpretations,  the 
unitarian  and  the  trinitarian,  ought  to  be  carefully  ex- 
amined, and  their  differences  clearly  marked.  Unita- 
rianism  interprets  this  text  as  the  stamp  of  unity  upon 
unity,  while  Trinitarianism  interprets  it  as  the  stamp  of 
unity  on  diversity  or  plurality.  The  unitarian  interpre- 
tation is  fairly  illustrated  by  such  a  watchword  as  the 
following  among  Americans  :  Hear,  O  Americans  !  George 
Washington,  our  first  President,  was  ofie  George  Washing- 
ton. Learned  Jews  have  perceived  the  great  difficulty, 
the  flat  and  bald  tautology,  in  this  interpretation  ;  and 
Aben  Ezra  suggested  two  modes  of  relief.  One  was  to 
make  Elohim  the  principal  predicate, — Hear,  O  Israel : 
Jehovah  is  our  God,  Jehovah  is  one ;  the  other  was  to 
give  the  two  tetragrammatons  different  meanings,  making 
one  the  proper  name  and  the  other  the  appellative,  as  if 
one  should  read.  Hear,  O  Israel :  Jehovah  our  God  is  the 
one  Universe-Sustainer.  It  must  be  admitted  that  such 
a  motto  containing  the  name  of  Washington  might  be 
useful  to  Americans ;  it  must  also  be  admitted  that  the 
text  before  us  expresses  a  great  truth  even  as  Unitarians 
interpret  it ;  and  this  would  probably  be  the  only  possible 
interpretation  if  the  text  were  found  only  in  the  Greek 
language  or  in  the  English,  because  in  these  languages 
Elohitn  as  a  Divine  name  never  appears  as  plural,  and 
the  trinitarian  character  of  the  word  Jehovah  cannot  be 
D  7 


74         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

exhibited  in  a  translation.  The  trinitarian  interpreta- 
tion may  be  illustrated  by  the  American  motto,  E pbiri- 
btis  unum.  One  argument  in  favor  of  it  is  that  it  gives 
the  text  a  compass  and  sublimity  beyond  any  other  inter- 
pretation. The  Unitarian  finds  in  this  text  a  surrounding 
wall  of  defense  for  the  eternal  Godhead  against  the  false 
gods  of  man's  creation  ;  the  Trinitarian  beholds  it  as  an 
exhibition  of  glorious  truths  and  mysteries  which  have 
their  place  within  the  Godhead.  The  Unitarian  holds 
the  chief  value  of  this  text  to  be  extrinsic ;  the  Trinitarian 
holds  it  to  be  intrinsic.  The  Unitarian  holds  it  as  a  text 
in  polemic  theology;  the  Trinitarian  holds  it  as  a  text  in 
didactic  theology.  The  Unitarian  uses  it  to  fight"against 
the  idols  on  earth;  the  Trinitarian  views  it  as  the  glass 
through  which  he  will  gaze  at  the  refulgent  mysteries  of 
the  Divine  nature  in  the  never-ending  peace  and  joy  of 
heaven.  The  Trinitarian  interpretation  is  the  more  sub- 
lime ;  and  this  is  a  good  evidence  that  it  is  the  true 
interpretation. 

We  now  drop  these  single  words  on  which  we  have 
dwelt  so  long,  and  pass  into  wide  religious  spheres,  to 
find  out  the  true  dwelling-place  of  Unitarianism. 

First,  Unitarianism  as  opposed  to  Trinitarianism  has 
no  home  in  genuine  Christianity.  There  was  a  Trinity 
at  the  baptism  of  Jesus,  the  Father  by  a  voice  from  heaven 
acknowledging  his  beloved  Son,  the  Son  walking  up  from 
the  water,  the  Holy  Ghost  descending  in  the  form  of  a 
dove;  and  there  is  the  Trinity  in  that  baptism  which 
Jesus  left  to  be  administered  by  his  disciples  among  all 
nations;  and  any  public  life  or  any  theological  system 
which  thus  commences  and  finishes  with  the  Trinity  must 
itself  be  essentially  trinitarian  through  all  its  length  and 
breadth.  Two  such  gates  never  stand  at  the  opposite 
sides  of  a  unitarian  city  as  those  that  stand  one  at  the 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN. 


IS 


beginning  and  the  other  at  the  close  of  the  public  life  of 
the  Son  of  man. 

It  will  require  more  time  to  go  from  gate  to  gate 
through  that  holy  Judaism  that  commenced  with  Moses 
fifteen  hundred  years  before  Cloristianity  and  flourished 
through  so  many  centuries.  One  of  the  first  prophets  on 
whom  the  eye  of  the  Christian  falls,  as  he  looks  from  his 
own  system  back  into  Judaism,  is  the  late  prophet  Zecha- 
riah;  and  Zechariah  may  first  be  interrogated  whether 
his  Judaism  was  essentially  unitarian.  His  answer  is 
prompt.  Three  things  must  be  observed  near  the  begin- 
ning of  his  prophecies.  First,  the  Lord  speaks  towards 
the  close  of  the  third  chapter,  who  will  bring  forth  his 
servant  the  Branch:  the  Lord  bringing  forth  this  Branch  is 
one  person.  Secondly,  the  Branch  himself  is  still  another 
person,  and  appears  to  be  the  same  with  the  mysterious 
stone  in  which  the  Lord  will  carve  the  seven  eyes  which 
are  the  seven  "eyes  of  the  Lord  which  run  to  and  fro 
through  the  whole  earth."*     The  same  Branch  is  found 


*  Aben  Ezra  decides  that  the  Branch  in  this  third  chapter  of  Zechariah 
is  Zerubbabel ;  but  he  adds,  "Many  expositors  say  that  this  Branch  is 
the  Messiah,  who  is  called  Zerubbabel  because  he  will  be  of  his  seed,  as  it 
is  also  said,  '  And  David  my  servant  will  be  a  prince  over  them  forever.'  " 
The  Targum  gives  the  paraphrase,  ■•Sjnn  Nn''!:'D  ''1257  n''  Tiid  njn  nh 
"  See,  I  bring  forth  my  servant  the  Messiah  who  shall  be  revealed." 
Jonathan  ben  Uzziel  calls  the  Branch  of  the  Lord,  in  the  fourth  chapter 
of  Isaiah,  "  the  Messiah  of  the  Lord." 

As  to  the  point  whether  this  stone  mentioned  immediately  afterwards 
means  the  same  person  with  the  Branch,  when  I  read  how  seven  eyes  are 
set  on  this  stone,  and  the  Lord  declares  that  he  himself  will  carve  them 
on  it,  and  these  seven  are  afterwards  explained,  "  They  are  the  eyes  of 
the  Lord  which  run  to  and  fro  through  the  whole  earth,"  and  I  reflect 
that  the  eyes  are  the  peculiar  windows  through  which  the  soul  itself  is 
seen  in  its  sharpest  emotions  ; — when  I  follow  on  into  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  find  the  expressions  concerning  Jesus,  "  These  things  saith  he 
that  hath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God," — "  In  the  midst  of  the  elders  stood  a 


76         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

away  back  in  Isaiah:   ''In  that  day  shall  the  Branch  of 
Jehovah  be  beautiful  and  glorious"  (iv.    2);    the  same 


Lamb  as  it  had  been  slaiii,  having  seven  horns  and  seven  eyes,  which  are 
the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth  into  all  the  earth,"  I  cannot  doubt 
that  the  stone  engraved  with  seven  eyes  reappears  in  the  New  Testament 
as  being  the  Messiah.  The  stone  is  found  in  Isaiah  xxviii.  i6  :  "  There- 
fore thus  saith  the  Lord  God,  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a 
stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious  corner-stone,  a  sure  foundation:  he  that 
believeth  shall  not  make  haste  ;" — on  which  verse  Rashi,  the  prince  of 
rabbinical  commentators,  has  this  comment:  "  Behold,  I  am  he  who  has 
laid  already  in  Zion  the  stone — already  is  the  decree  fixed  before  me,  and 
I  have  established  the  King  the  Messiah,  who  shall  be  in  Zion  for  a  stone 
of  proof,  meaning  citadel  and  strength,  as  in  the  phrases,  '  The  forts  and 
towers  shall  be  for  dens,'  '  They  set  up  the  towers  thereof  "  Add  to 
this  the  authority  of  the  Talmud.  "  Even  the  Babylonish  Talmud, 
Tract.  Sanhedrin,  fol.  38,  i,  and  the  book  Sohar,"  says  Tholuck  on 
the  last  verse  of  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
"  interpret  this  passage  of  the  Messias  (see  Schottgen,  Horse  Talm.,  t.  ii. 
pp.  170,  290,  607)."  It  is  so  interpreted  repeatedly  and  most  explicitly 
in  the  New  Testament.  The  stone  in  the  dream  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
was  cut  out  without  hands,  and  it  broke  in  pieces  the  earlier  mon- 
archies and  became  a  great  mountain  and  filled  the  whole  earth  ;  and 
no  one  will  doubt  that  this  stone  is  the  Messiah.  The  stone,  in  the 
eighth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  is  described  as  being  the  Lord,  first  a  sanc- 
tuary, then  a  stone  of  stumbling  and  a  rock  of  offense  to  both  the 
houses  of  Israel :  "  and  many  among  them  shall  stumble,  and  fall,  and  be 
broken,  and  be  snared,  and  be  taken;"  and  the  aged  Rabbi  Simeon,  as 
he  held  the  child  Jesus  in  his  arms  and  spoke  the  words,  "  Behold,  this 
child  is  set  for  the  fall  and  rising  again  of  many  in  Israel ;  and  for  a  sign 
that  shall  be  spoken  against,"  doubtless  referred  to  this  passage  in  Isaiah. 
These  are  a  few  facts  to  illustrate  how  ancient  scholars  of  the  highest 
authority,  both  Jews  and  Christians,  agree  in  finding  the  Messiah  under 
the  title  of  the  stone.  They  agree,  too,  that  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua  the 
priest  were  men  to  be  wondered  at,  men  of  marvelous  character,  as 
prefiguring  the  Branch  whom  the  Lord  would  bring  forth  before  the 
people. 

It  is  true  that  the  modern  rabbis  do  not  admit  the  Messianic  character 
of  many  passages  which  the  ancient  rabbis  interpreted  in  this  light ;  but 
this  does  not  impair  the  value  of  the  ancient  Jewish  interpretations  when 
they  harmonize  with  the  Christian. 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN^. 


77 


stone,  too,  is  found  in  Isaiah  to  be  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
both  a  sanctuary  and  a  stone  of  stumbhng,  a  rock  of 
offense,  to  both  the  houses  of  Israel  (viii.  13,  14);  and 
the  same  stone  reappears  long  afterwards, — five  hundred 
years  afterwards, — in  the  last  book  of  the  New  Testament, 
as  the  Lamb  that  has  been  slain,  "having  seven  horns 
and  seven  eyes,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent 
forth  into  all  the  earth,"  the  strength  of  the  stone  being 
here  indicated  by  the  seven  horns,  and  its  omniscience 
by  the  seven  eyes.  And,  thirdly,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
is  still  another  person  as  he  is  found  in  the  fourth 
chapter:  "  This  is  the  word  of  the  Lord  unto  Zerubbabel, 
saying,  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  These  three  points  have  only 
to  be  reviewed  closely  to  identify  in  them  the  Chris- 
tian Trinity.  The  earlier  prophet  Ezekiel  has  his  three 
memorable  chapters  commencing  with  his  vision  in  the 
valley  of  dry  bones,  and  there  he  likewise  presents  the 
same  three  points.  First,  he  has  the  Lord  himself,  who 
brings  him  out  in  the  spirit  into  the  valley  of  the  dead, 
and  unfolds  to  him  the  future ;  secondly,  he  has  David, 
the  Lord's  servant,  who  will  be  one  Shepherd  over  all 
the  tribes  of  Israel  and  will  be  king  over  them  forever; — 
yes,  the  Jews  well  said  to  Jesus,  as  they  looked  back  to 
this  prophecy,  that  the  Messiah  abideth  forever;  and, 
thirdly,  he  has  the  Holy  Ghost  at  the  close  of  these  illus- 
trious visions  of  prosperity  and  vengeance,  in  this  verse, 
"  Neither  will  I  hide  my  face  any  more  from  them  ;  for  I 
have  poured  out  my  spirit  upon  the  house  of  Israel,  saith 
the  Lord  God"  (Ezek.  xxxix.  29,);  and  these  three  of 
Ezekiel  are  none  other  than  the  three  of  the  Christian 
Trinity.  Isaiah,  at  a  still  earlier  period,  and  when  the 
throne  of  David  had  its  golden  age,  brought  forward  the 
same  three  very  clearly.     First,  here  are  the  illustrious 

7* 


78         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

verses  to  which  Jesus  himself  invited  particular  attention  : 
"The  Spirit  oi  Adonai  Jehovah  is  upon  me;  because  the 
Lord  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the 
meek  ;  he  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to 
proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the 
prison  to  them  that  are  bound."  An  earlier  prophecy 
was  in  these  words:  "And  there  shall  come  forth  a  rod 
out  of  the  stem  of  Jesse,  and  a  branch  shall  grow  out  of 
his  roots.  And  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon 
him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit 
of  counsel  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and  of  the 
fear  of  the  Lord."  No  one  needs  to  inquire  here,  Where 
is  God,  the  fountain  of  every  blessing,  in  these  verses? 
or,  Where  is  the  Son  of  David?  or.  Where  is  the  Holy 
Ghost?  There  maybe  concentrations  of  peculiar  light 
in  the  Trinity  Of  the  New  Testament  which  are  not  found 
in  these  passages,  just  as  powerful  rays  are  now  found 
in  the  spectrum  which  were  never  perceived  by  Sir  Isaac 
Newton ;  but  the  spectrum  is  the  same  now  that  it  was  in 
his  day;  and  it  is  the  same  Trinity  of  Zechariah,  Ezekiel, 
and  Isaiah  that  reappears  in  the  powerful  light  of  the 
New  Testament. 

The  blessing  which  the  priests  were  appointed  to  pro- 
nounce consists  of  three  parts,  and  contains  distinctly 
the  three  ideas  of  God,  as  the  fountain  of  all  blessing, 
the  effulgence  of  all  blessing,  and  the  effectual  applica- 
tion of  the  blessing  to  the  inner  life  of  the  man.  "  The 
Lord  bless  thee  and  keep  thee,"  points  to  the  fountain 
of  all  blessing  in  God,  and  to  his  choice  of  a  people  to  be 
brought  near  himself  and  to  live  forever  in  his  presence, 
and  corresponds  to  "  the  love  of  God"  in  the  Christian 
benediction.  "The  Lord  make  his  face  shine  upon  thee, 
and  be  gracious  unto  thee,"  expresses  the  pouring  forth 
of  the  blessing  in   a  flood  of  light;    it  points   to   the 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN. 


79 


Shekinah,  the  angel  of  God's  face,  suggests  to  the  Chris- 
tian the  Son  of  God  who  is  the  brightness,  the  radiation 
of  the  Father's  glory,  and  corresponds  to  the  term  in  the 
benediction,  "the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
"The  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee,  and  give 
thee  peace,"  points  to  the  blessing  penetrating  into  all 
the  depths  of  the  soul,  when  truth,  comfort,  and  peace 
mingle  with  all  the  inner  life ;  and  this  is  the  work 
assigned  to  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  Christian  scheme. 
These  three  concentrations  of  blessing  are  perfectly  suited 
to  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity  as  their  centres. 

Unitarianism  as  contradicting  Trinitarianism  is  thus, 
by  a  fair  argument,  expelled  from  the  whole  field  of 
Judaism  ;  but  does  it  really  lodge  in  that  patriarchal 
theology  which  was  earlier  than  Moses  ?  It  would  appear 
as  if  it  ought  to  be  found  in  that  theology  if  it  has  any 
place  in  the  Bible,  because  the  names  in  the  singular 
number  for  God,  such  as  Eloah,  El,  Shaddai,  and  El 
Shaddai,  shone  more  brilliantly  then  as  the  most  holy 
terms  than  ever  they  did  afterwards.  But  the  plural 
name  Adonai,  originating  with  Abraham,  raises  a  dififi- 
culty,  and  makes  its  protest  against  the  theory  that  the 
patriarchs  were  Unitarians.  The  three  who  appeared  to 
Abraham  have  been  already  pointed  out  as  his  holy 
Adonai ;  and  this  same  word  as  found  in  the  account  of 
that  vision  by  which  Isaiah  was  called  to  the  office  of  a 
prophet  is  interpreted  in  the  New  Testament  as  standing 
for  both  Jesus  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  religion  of  Greece  has  been  thoroughly  investi- 
gated, and  the  following  language  expresses  the  conclu- 
sion :  "The  life  and  essence  of  all  things  is  from  God. 
Plato's  idea  of  God  is  of  the  purest  and  highest  kind. 
God  is  one,  he  is  Spirit,  he  is  the  supreme  and  only  real 
being,  he  is  the  creator  of  all  things,  his  providence  is 


8o         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO  MUCH  JEWISH 

over  all  events.  He  avoids  pantheism  on  one  side,  by 
making  God  a  distinct  personal  intelligent  will;  and 
polytheism  on  the  other,  by  making  hira  absolute,  and 
therefore  one.  Plato's  theology  is  pure  theism.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  Plato  was  a  monotheist,  and  believed  in 
one  God,  and  when  he  spoke  of  gods  in  the  plural  was 
only  using  the  common  form  of  speech."  This  extract 
is  from  the  "Ten  Great  Religions,"  by  James  Freeman 
Clarke,  page  295,  where  the  religion  of  Greece  is  dis- 
cussed. 

The  American  Indians  had  a  sublime  conception  of 
the  Great  and  Good  Spirit,  the  fountain  of  life,  the 
source  of  every  blessing ;  this  was  with  them  the  one 
supreme  Spirit ;  and  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  evil 
spirit  which  they  feared  was  only  a  created  being  of  a 
high  order,  who  had  apostatized  from  his  primitive  holi- 
ness, and  if  they  had  not  been  guilty  of  the  worship  of 
the  sun  and  moon,  they  would  certainly  in  their  simple 
faith  have  furnished  one  of  the  most  beautiful  exhibitions 
of  Unitarianisra.  But  it  would  have  been  Unitarianism 
growing  on  heathen  ground. 

Arabia  furnishes  the  best  exhibition  of  Unitarianism. 
The  Koran  is  the  most  thoroughly  unitarian  book.  It 
teaches  its  disciples  to  detest  the  Trinity,  and  especially 
to  view  with  inexpressible  contempt  the  term  Son  of 
God,  as  orthodox  Christians  understand  it.  The  Mussul- 
man has  no  time  and  no  will  to  reason  on  the  question 
whether  God  has  an  Eternal  Son  ;  because  simply  to 
mention  the  question  only  produces  loathing.  The  ques- 
tion needs  no  examination,  and  he  must  look  on  the 
believer  in  the  Son  of  God  either  with  profound  pity  or 
with  a  will  to  see  him  perish  instantly  as  a  polytheist. 
His  Koran  gives  him  the  most  simple  and  reasonable 
faith,  namely,   one  God,   one   everlasting  Father,   with 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN.  8l 

no  plurality  of  Divine  persons;  and  he  has  no  heart 
for  any  addition  of  mysteries  to  that  faith.  These  Uni- 
tarians now  number  a  population  vastly  exceeding  a  hun- 
dred millions.  The  early  followers  of  Mohammed  were 
men  of  flaming  zeal.  They  looked  on  idolatry  as  the 
worst  curse  of  the  world,  and  they  felt  that  they  were 
spreading  the  greatest  possible  blessing  in  bringing  all 
nations  to  the  faith  in  the  unity  of  God.  It  was  never 
their  profession  that  their  faith  was  for  themselves  alone, 
and  that  they  had  no  wish  for  converts :  on  the  con- 
trary, they  were  the  most  bold  and  enthusiastic  propa- 
gandists, and  believed  that  their  own  sublime  faith  ought 
to  be  accepted  by  every  man,  and  that  their  highest  duty 
to  the  world  was  to  make  it  spread.  Most  mighty  and 
wonderful  was  the  empire  that  they  established  in  a  few 
years,  from  Persia  and  India,  through  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Europe,  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  And  when  they  pene- 
trated to  this  ocean,  the  zeal  of  one  of  their  chiefs  called 
for  a  dividing  of  the  waters,  that  they  might  march  to  a 
new  world  and  there  teach  the  unity  of  God. 

History  has  written  on  an  everlasting  rock  the  follow- 
ing concatenated  truths,  namely,  that  Abraham  had  two 
sons,  Isaac  and  Ishmael;  that  the  promise  was  never  given 
to  Ishmael,  but  it  was  to  Isaac ;  that  in  Isaac's  posterity 
all  the  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed ;  that  a  gene- 
alogy sacred  among  Christians  connects  Jesus  with  Isaac, 
and  a  genealogy  sacred  among  Mohammedans  connects 
Mohammed  with  Ishmael ;  that  Isaac  has  given  the  world 
the  New  Testament  and  Christianity,  while  Ishmael  has 
given  the  world  the  Koran  and  Unitarianism;  and  that  if 
Unitarianism  as  opposed  to  Trinitarianism  is  indeed  the 
truth  and  the  world's  greatest  blessing,  Ishmael  has  most 
singularly  established  this  blessing  in  the  world,  the 
promise  has  been  fulfilled  in  Ishmael,  and  Isaac  has  failed, 


82         UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

and  what  the  Lord  promised  especially  to  Isaac  has  proved 
false.  Tjiis  alone  ought  to  be,  with  all  who  believe  the  Bible, 
a  perfectly  convincing  argument  against  Unitarianism. 

The  Unitarianism  of  the  Koran  has  this  interesting 
consistency,  that  it  sends  man  to  reason  rather  than 
to  miracles  to  receive  the  great  lessons  of  religion. 
Mohammed  acknowledged  his  inability  to  produce  such 
miracles  as  Moses  and  other  Hebrew  prophets  produced. 
His  religion  does  not  claim  to  have  the  support  of 
prodigies  which  convinced  and  dazzled  the  multitude. 
Now,  it  is  becoming  well  known  that  Unitarianism  natu- 
rally engenders  a  distrust  of  all  miracles,  and  already 
many  have  lost  all  faith  in  both  the  miracles  of  Moses 
and  those  of  Jesus.  The  Koran  can  accommodate  such 
persons  with  a  religion  that  does  not  depend  on  miracles. 

Further,  Mohammedan  Unitarianism  is  proved  to  be 
an  article  of  excellent  quality,  by  the  earnestness  with 
which  it  set  the  world  on  fire  in  the  first  centuries  of  its 
history.  The  Mohammedans  believed  in  the  infinite  im- 
portance of  their  faith  in  the  unity  of  God,  for  all  the 
world ;  they  were  not  the  people  to  possess  the  most 
holy  truth  for  themselves  and  live  with  no  concern 
whether  others  possessed  it  or  not.  And  if  in  the 
present  day  they  still  retain  all  their  primitive  hatred  of 
idolatry  and  of  trinitarian  Divinity,  while  a  coldness  has 
come  over  their  zeal  to  make  the  acknowledgment  of 
the  Divine  unity  universal  in  the  world,  this  only  proves 
that  that  moon  which  was  once  splendidly  waxing  is  now 
ominously  waning,  and  gives  us  the  right  to  say  that 
they  were  once  as  the  youthful,  ardent,  ruddy  warrior, 
mounted  on  his  steed  and  having  no  fear  of  heat  or  storm 
or  fire  or  battle,  but  now  they  are  more  like  the  pale  face 
marked  with  extreme  age,  which  seeks  rest  in  the  quiet 
shade.     Ardor  of   youthful   blood   is  always  to  be  ad- 


AS  MOHAMMEDAN.  83 

mired  ;  we  must  admire  this  in  the  Mohammedan  religion  ; 
and  any  religion  is  in  a  bad  condition  if  the  zeal  of  its 
youth  has  left  it  and  its  earnestness  to  shower  blessings 
from  its  hand  over  the  world  has  declined. 

It  must  also  be  said  in  praise  of  Mohammed  that  the 
distinction  was  clear  in  his  mind,  and  is  presented  clearly 
in  the  Koran,  between  Jesus  as  the  son  of  a  virgin  and 
the  orthodox  Christian  view  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God, 
and  that  he  showed  a  sacred  regard  for  Christianity  with 
this  one  exception,  that  he  made  the  most  diametrical 
opposition  to  the  Trinity.  The  Son  of  God  was  a  term 
which  appeared  to  him  only  as  an  abomination,  but  the 
son  of  the  Virgin  Mary  was  a  term  in  which  he  fully  be- 
lieved. Many  chapters  of  the  Koran  might  be  adduced 
in  proof  of  this  statement,  and  particularly  the  third,  the 
fourth,  and  the  nineteenth.  In  one  place  the  statement 
occurs,  ''Jesus  is  before  God  like  Adam,  whom  he  pro- 
duced from  the. earth  and  said.  Let  him  be,  and  he  was." 
In  another  place  we  read,  "Verily  Christ  Jesus,  the  son 
of  Mary,  is  the  apostle  of  God,  and  his  word,  which  he 
conveyed  unto  Mary,  and  his  spirit.  Believe  therefore 
in  God  and  his  apostle,  but  make  no  mention  of  a  Trinity. 
Avoid  this,  and  it  will  prove  better  for  you.  There  exists 
one  God  alone.  Far  be  it  from  him  that  he  should  have 
a  son.  All  things  in  heaven  and  on  earth  are  his,  and  this 
God  is  a  sufficient  protector."  In  another  place  a  story  is 
told  concerning  Mary,  in  which  the  miraculous  concep- 
tion of  Jesus  is  the  chief  point.  The  Mussulman  is  taught 
to  have  no  doubt  that  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  proved  true, 
that  a  virgin  should  become  the  mother  of  a  son,  and  this 
should  be  one  of  the  wonders  in  Israel;  and  it  appears  to 
him  perfectly  consistent  to  admit  the  miraculous  concep- 
tion and  with  the  same  breath  express  the  utmost  contempt 
for  the  dogma  of  the  asserted  oneness  of  Jesus  with  God. 


84        UNITARIANISM  NOT  SO   MUCH  JEWISH 

It  would  be  a  pleasant  sight  if,  in  this  free  charitable 
country  of  America,  the  rabbis  could  be  seen  united  in 
speaking  as  kind  words  concerning  Jesus  as  Mohammed 
spoke.  If  they  both  reject  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  and 
revile  him  as  a  prophet,  they  treat  him  with  greater  con- 
tumely than  Mohammed  did.  If  they  must  disown  him 
as  the  Son  of  God,  this  does  not  compel  them  to  despise 
him  as  the  son  of  David  or  to  reject  the  miracle  of  the 
Virgin's  conception.  Christians  would  be  pleased  to  com- 
pliment American  rabbis  as  holding  to  a  Unitarianism 
which  can  speak  as  respectful  and  kind  words  of  Jesus  as 
any  thing  the  Koran  contains;  for  assuredly  a  Unitarian- 
ism more  bigoted  and  bitter  than  Mohammedanism  is  not 
needed. 

But  Mohammedanism,  though  commended  by  its  re- 
liance on  reason,  by  its  flaming  zeal  to  convert  all  the 
world  to  the  tenet  of  the  Divine  unity,  and  by  its  re- 
spectful language  concerning  the  son  of  Mary,  is  not  the 
religion  for  the  Jews.  Salvation  was  to  be  of  the  Jews, 
not  of  the  race  of  Ishmael.  The  saying  of  the  last 
Hebrew  prophet  is  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  the  Lord 
had  loved  Jacob,  but  had  hated  Esau.  It  would  be  a 
most  foolish  bargain  in  any  Israelite  to  exchange  his 
home  at  Jerusalem  for  any  land  of  Arabia,  for  any  palace 
either  in  Petra  or  in  Mecca,  even  if  all  the  sand  of  the 
region  could  be  laid  at  his  feet  changed  into  gold.  The 
triune  theism  of  Judea  ought  never  to  be  given  up  for 
the  Unitarianism  of  Mecca.  The  throne  of  David  was 
to  be  in  all  ages  the  great  centre  of  the  true  light ;  it 
was  never  to  be  eclipsed  by  any  throne  of  Mohammed ; 
it  has  the  glorious  promise  written  on  it,  "  For  unto  us  a 
child  is  born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given:  and  the  government 
shall  be  upon  his  shoulder:  and  his  name  shall  be  called 
Wonderful,  Counselor,  The  mighty  God,  The  everlasting 


AS  MOHAAIMEDAN. 


85 


Father,  The  Prince  of  peace.  Of  the  increase  of  his 
government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  endj"  and  no 
throne  of  Arabia,  or  Ishmael,  or  Edom,  or  Mohammed, 
or  Omar,  stands  on  any  such  promise.  There  is  no  such 
promise  supporting  the  mosque  of  Omar  in  Jerusalem, 
though  it  has  stood  there  more  than  a  thousand  years — 
longer  than  both  Solomon's  temple  and  the  second  temple 
together ;  and  no  sanctuary  has  ever  existed  in  the  world 
more  decidedly  unitarian  than  it  is.  But  it  belongs  not 
to  the  Jewish  religion;  it  proclaims  the  desolate  reign 
of  heathenism ;  and  the  Lord  who  dwelt  between  the 
cherubim  does  not  know  it  as  his  house. 

The  Jews  are  not  permitted  to  embrace  Mohammedan- 
ism, since  it  is  not  the  genuine  Judaism  ;  and  it  is  indeed 
lamentable  if  any  of  them  inculcate  a  Unitarianism  still 
more  degraded  than  Mohammedanism,  having  more  bitter 
and  contemptuous  words  to  utter  against  Jesus  and  the 
Christian  faith,  and  no  belief  in  any  of  the  miracles 
recorded  in  the  Bible. 

M.  R.  M. 


LETTER   VI. 

Esteemed  Friend  : 

My  last  letter  to  you  is  the  last  which  I  can  expect  to 
see  published  in  the  Israelite  ;  but  as  your  later  letter  has 
come  to  me,  in  which  I  read  as  follows,  "  But  I  am  by 
no  means  willing,  after  that  you  have  challenged  me  to  a 
debate,  to  consider  our  debate  as  broken  off  sine  die,^^ 
I  may  be  permitted  to  answer  you  that  probably  I  am 
fully  as  unwilling  as  you  are  that  our  debate  should  close 
here,  with  no  further  letters  coming  before  the  eye  of 
the  public. 

Unquestionably  you  are  an  admirer  of  the  illustrious 
rabbi  of  the  twelfth  century,  Aben  Ezra;  and  if  I  take 
from  him  my  text  for  the  present  letter  you  may  be 
better  pleased  than  if  I  should  take  it  from  the  New  Tes- 
tament. He  supplies  me  with  an  excellent  text  for  a 
trinitarian  discourse,  in  his  notes  on  Exodus  iii.  15  : 
"And  God  said  moreover  unto  Moses,  Thus  shalt  thou 
say  unto  the  children  of  Israel :  Jehovah  the  God  of 
your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac, 
and  the  God  of  Jacob,  hath  sent  me  unto  you  :  this  is 
my  name  forever,  and  this  is  my  memorial  unto  all  gen- 
erations."    Let  me  here  read  you  his  note: 

Dxyn  niDtr  on  nictt'  nii'Virn  nVxi  ni  muDi  "laiD  irNa'  Tm 

.1  translate  it:    ^^  And  God  said  moreover.      Another 

name ;  and  it  is  of  the  meaning  of  the  first  one ;  only 

the  one  is  in  the  language  of  the  one  speaking,  but  this  is 

86 


RELATIONS   OF  FAITH,   HOPE,   AND  LOVE.        87 

the  language  of  the  person  not  speaking,  and  is  of  a  piece 
with  Jah  ;  and  these  three  names  are  names  of  the  es- 
sence" (proper  nouns). 

Most  wilHngly  do  I  accept  Aben  Ezra's  explanation,  as 
here  given,  of  the  three  Divine  names,  and  all  three 
proper  nouns,  and  make  it  my  text  for  the  present  letter. 
The  name  to  which  he  refers  as  the  first  one  is  Ehyeh 
asher  Ehyeh  (I-will-be-that-I-will-be).  The  other  name 
is  Jehovah ;  and  he  notes  this  difference,  that  the  first 
name  is  in  the  first  person  as  this  term  is  used  in  gram- 
mar, it  reveals  God  himself  speaking,  and  is  a  name  com- 
municated from  God  to  man  ;  but  the  other  name  has 
not  this  stamp  of  the  person  speaking  on  it,  and  in  its 
first  utterance  it  may  have  been  either,  like  the  first,  a 
name  communicated  from  God  and  revealed  to  man,  or 
a  Divine  name  having  its  origin  with  man.  The  third 
name  is  Jah.  Here  is  the  Divine  Trinity  as  expounded 
by  Aben  Ezra.  A  brilliant  trinitarian  motto  stands  thus 
at  the  head  of  my  letter. 

Vain  is  the  search  for  any  such  Trinitarianism  as  this 
in  heathenism.  It  is  rather  the  Trinity  of  the  serpent 
that  becomes  prominent  in  heathenism.  In  the  eleventh 
book  of  the  Iliad,  near  the  beginning,  there  is  a  bril- 
liant description  of  the  armor  of  Agamemnon.  His 
shield  was  on  him,  suspended  from  a  silver  belt,  and  on 
this  belt  a  winding  serpent  displayed  its  whole  length;  it 
had  one  body,  and  one  neck,  but  this  neck  supported  three 
heads,  and  these  heads  were  looking  around  in  all  direc- 
tions, with  the  sharpest  vision.  This  probably  had  the 
meaning  that  the  serpent  knew  all  things  past,  and  all 
things  present,  and  all  things  future.  The  highest  honor 
that  could  be  given  to  the  serpent  consisted  in  presenting 
it  to  the  gaze  and  wonder  of  the  world  in  this  three- 
headed   form.     If  the  triune  conception  of  the  eternal 


88  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

God  could  be  transferred  to  the  serpent,  this  was  the 
most  blasphemous  form  of  the  serpent's  deification  ;  and 
this  animal  indeed  holds  a  seat  of  unapproachable  dignity 
in  heathen  worship.  The  idea  that  the  serpent  excels 
in  wisdom  can  be  traced  back  to  the  first  man  and 
woman.  The  first  apostasy  of  man  from  God  was  con- 
nected with  the  idea  that  the  serpent  was  man's  best 
counselor,  or  that  the  oracles  of  the  serpent  were  of 
more  value  to  man  than  the  word  of  God.  The  Jews 
sometimes  made  themselves  similar  to  the  heathen  in 
giving  holy  honor  to  the  serpent  \  and  through  many 
centuries,  even  when  the  throne  of  David  was  most  re- 
splendent and  the  people  had  such  prophets  as  Isaiah  for 
their  spiritual  guides,  they  still  continued  to  burn  incense 
to  the  brazen  serpent  which  Moses  had  prepared  and 
elevated  for  them  in  the  wilderness.  The  most  famous 
oracle  of  Greece  was  the  oracle  of  the  Python,  at  Delphi, 
— that  is,  the  oracle  of  the  serpent ;  and  in  its  time  it 
dazzled  the  best-educated  intellects  of  the  heathen  world. 
The  vestal  virgins  enjoyed  the  highest  honors  that  Rome 
could  give ;  consuls  and  prretors  had  to  give  way  to  them 
on  the  streets ;  the  holy  serpent  was  committed  to  their 
charge,  and  they  kept  its  table  supplied  with  meat. 

Shall  I  place  before  your  eyes  the  gods  of  Greece, — 
Jupiter,  the  cloud-gathering  Thunderer,  the  father  of 
gods  and  men,  the  wonderful  counselor,  to  whose  nod  all 
things  in  heaven  and  on  earth  are  perfectly  and  instantly 
obedient,  and  his  father  Kronos,  and  Uranos  the  father 
of  Kronos,  and  the  other  deities,  Neptune,  Pluto,  Apollo, 
and  Mercury,  the  goddesses  also,  Juno,  Athena,  Demeter? 
But  there  is  no  need  to  run  through  the  long  list :  the 
truth  is  instantly  transparent  that  no  three  can  be  selected 
from  these  which  will  bear  to  be  placed  in  any  kind 
of  comparison  with  the  Trinity  which  is  taught   in  the 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND   LOVE.  89 

Bible.  Or  shall  I  bring  before  you  the  more  distant 
and  ancient  Egypt,  with  the  three  orders  of  deities,  the 
first  order  as  worshiped  by  the  priests,  the  third  and 
lowest  order  as  worshiped  by  the  people,  and  the  second 
order  as  being  intermediate, — there  being  eight  gods  in 
the  highest  order,  twelve  in  the  second,  and  seven  in  the 
third,  with  Ammon  or  the  concealed  god  standing  first 
in  the  highest  order,  and  Typhon  the  Egyptian  god  of 
destruction  standing  first  in  the  lowest  order,  until  in 
the  age  of  Moses  his  name  began  to  be  chiseled  out 
from  this  post  of  dignity  on  the  monuments?  Here  again 
no  kind  of  resemblance  is  found  to  the  Trinity  that  re- 
veals itself  from  the  tetragrammaton.  Or  shall  I  bring 
still  more  distant  objects  under  your  eye,  the  Hindoo 
Trimurti,  consisting  of  Brahma  the  Creator,  Vishnu  the 
preserver,  and  Siva  the  destroyer  ?  This  subject  may  be 
dismissed  with  the  single  remark  that  the  whole  Hindoo 
system  is  essentially  pantheism. 

Therefore  I  come  back  to  the  Trinity  which  Aben  Ezra 
has  pointed  out  as  appearing  on  the  face  of  the  tetra- 
grammaton ;  and  I  will  now  show  the  connection  of  Jah 
with  faith,  the  connection  of  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh  with 
hope,  and  the  connection  of  Jehovah,  in  its  specific 
limitation,  with  love. 

The  special  connection  of  Jah  is  with  faith.  Most 
clearly  does  the  prophet  Isaiah  bring  out  this  connection 
in  the  verse  (xxvi.  4),  "Trust  in  Jehovah  forever,  for  in 
Jah  Jehovah  is  the  rock  of  ages."  In  Jah  Jehovah,  in 
the  Jah  who  is  Jehovah,  or  in  the  Jah  who  has  come  out 
to  view  from  that  more  ancient  patriarchal  term  Jehovah, 
is  the  rock  of  ages,  or  the  rock  of  worlds,  or,  as  the 
English  version  gives  it,  "everlasting  strength."  The 
rock  of  mighty  ages,  the  rock  of  all  time,  lies  in  the  word 
Jah.     The  original,  eternal,  and  unlimited  Godhead  lies 

8* 


90 


THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 


in  the  word  Jah,  and  all  true  religious  faith  has  its  feet 
resting  on  this  rock,  which  never  can  be  moved  and  never 
can  be  measured.  All  the  strength,  immutability,  eter- 
nity, righteousness,  holiness,  and  truth  of  God  are  in  the 
word  Jah.  The  original  fountain  of  all  life  through  all 
worlds  is  in  this  word.  The  faith  of  Israel  stands  on  a 
strong  foundation. 

This  name  is  invested  with  all  its  peculiar  and  mighty 
meaning  in  the  very  first  verse  of  the  Bible  where  it  ap- 
pears. It  first  appears  in  the  beginning  of  the  song  of 
Moses  at  the  Red  Sea:  "  My  strength  and  song  is  Jah." 
(Ex.  XV.  2.)  All  its  subsequent  use  has  this  verse  as  its 
foundation.  Strength  lodges  in  the  word  ;  and  when  faith 
says.  My  strength  is  Jah,  it  is  the  same  as  saying,  That 
cause  that  is  without  a  cause,  the  Father  that  is  first  of 
all,  that  boundless  flame  of  eternal  life  to  which  all  the 
stars  and  all  created  worlds  belong  as  the  little  sparks 
that  have  been  sent  out  from  it,  the  omnipotence,  the 
immutability,  the  eternity,  the  independence,  the  essence 
of  God, — this,  yea,  all  this  is  the  strong  rock  on  which 
I  stand  and  in  which  I  trust.  In  the  verse  last  quoted, 
strength  and  song  show  a  close  and  beautiful  connection. 
The  worship  of  God  by  the  song  is  the  outward  ex- 
pression of  faith ;  and  hence  the  faith  which  says,  My 
strength  is  Jah,  says  at  the  same  moment.  My  song  is 
Jah.  The  strength  which  supports  the  feet  of  faith  as  a 
foundation  is  also  the  theme  of  the  Divine  song  on  the 
tongue  of  faith.  Let  the  temple  which  will  be  built 
when  these  tribes  become  settled  in  the  promised  land 
be  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Jah.  Let  its  highest 
praise,  the  sound  of  which  shall  go  forth  as  an  illumina- 
tion to  all  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  be  the  praise  of 
Jah,  the  sublime  Hallelu  Jah. 

This  name  occurred  so  frequently  in  the  psalms  which 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,   AND  LOVE.  91 

were  used  in  the  resounding  worship  of  the  temple,  that 
the  temple  became  impressed  on  the  minds  and  memories 
of  the  people  as  being  the  house  of  Jah ;  and  hence  the 
good  Hezekiah,  when  he  was  nigh  to  death  and  all  hope 
of  making  another  visit  to  the  courts  of  the  temple 
appeared  to  be  cut  off,  made  it  his  bitter  complaint  that 
he  could  not  again  go  to  see  Jah, — that  he  should  never 
again  see  Jah  in  the  land  of  the  living.  It  was  especially 
commanded  that  the  word  Jah  should  resound  in  the 
sublime  songs  of  adoration.  A  psalm  contained  the  in- 
junction, "  Extol  him  that  rideth  upon  the  heavens  by 
his  name  Jah."  (Ps.  Ixviii.  4.)*  The  most  impressive 
prominence  is  given  to  the  w5rd  in  the  closing  psalms. 
The  hundred  and  forty-sixth  Psalm  has  for  its  first  word 
Praise  Jah,.  and  for  its  last  word  the  same  Praise  Jah. 
The  hundred  and  forty-seventh  Psalm  has  Praise  Jah  for 
its  beginning,  and  the  same  for  its  last  word.  And  so 
of  all  the  following  psalms  to  the  end  of  the  book, — the 

■■•'  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  commentary  of  Rashi  on  the 
verse,  "  Extol  him  that  rideth  upon  the  heavens  by  Jah  his  name  :" — 
"By  yah  his  name.  That  is,  by  the  name  Jah,  which  is  the  language 
of  fear,  as  they  have  translated  it  in  Chaldee  by  fear,  in  the  verses, 
^[y  strength  and  song  is  yah  ;  and  likewise,  For  the  hand  being  laid  on 
the  throne  of  yah,  in  the  Targum.  Likewise  in  the  phrase  ///.  yak 
yehovah  ;  that  so  ye  will  be  redeemed  by  the  word  of  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  and  the  strength  of  the  world.  Says  the  Psalmist,  Sing  praises  in 
his  presence,  and  fear  before  him,  and  rejoice  :  and  this  is  an  illustration 
of  him  saying  in  another  place.  And  rejoice  with  tremblifig,  Ps.  ii.  11." 

This  extract  from  Rashi,  the  best  rabbi  from  whom  to  learn  the  ancient 
tradition,  supplies  strong  evidence  that  Jah  was  the  object  of  fear  in  the 
oldest  rabbinic  theology,  just  as  the  Father  is,  in  his  place  in  the  Christian 
Trinity  as  the  first  person,  the  reconciler  being  the  Son,  the  second 
person. 

The  Targum  of  Isaiah  xxvi.  4,  which  Rashi  here  cites,  appears  to  read, 
"  Rely  upon  the  word  (memt-a)  of  Jehovah  forever,  and  for  ever  and 
ever ;  that  so  ye  will  be  redeemed  by  the  word  of  the  fear  of  Jehovah 
the  mighty  one  of  ages." 


92 


THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 


hundred  and  forty-eighth,  the  hundred  and  forty-ninth, 
and  the  hundred  and  fiftieth :  each  one  opens  with  Praise 
Jah  and  closes  with  Praise  Jah.  He  is  here  praised  because 
the  confidence  that  is  placed  in  him  will  not  be  disap- 
pointed, while  the  sons  of  men  are  as  weak  and  uncertain 
as  that  soft  breath  which  death  will  soon  take  from  them. 
He  assists  the  needy,  he  delivers  the  oppressed,  he  ex- 
tends his  mercy  to  the  children  of  sorrow.  All  Israel  must 
praise  Jah ;  the  temple  must  ring  with  his  high  praises. 
All  nature  must  become  one  stupendous  temple  resound- 
ing with  his  praise.  The  heavens,  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
the  angels,  the  stars,  the  sun  and  moon,  the  clouds,  the 
vapors,  the  floods,  the  snow,  the  stormy  wind,  the  moun- 
tains, the  seas,  the  dragons,  the  kings,  the  princes,  the 
cities,  the  chosen  people,  the  people  of  all  lands  and  seas, 
must  unite  all  their  voices  in  this  holy  adoration.  At  the 
close,  all  instruments  of  music  assist  in  the  ecstatic  and 
boundless  worship.  The  high  firmament  sings  to  its  Cre- 
ator, and  the  earth  pours  forth  all  its  voices;  the  trumpet 
the  psaltery  and  harp,  the  timbrel  that  gives  the  charm  to 
the  dance,  the  stringed  instruments,  the  organs,  the  loud 
cymbals,  the  high-sounding  cymbals,  all  are  here  assisting 
with  their  best  voices  in  that  most  stupendous  flourish 
with  which  the  Psalms  make  their  exit.  The  combined 
sound  of  all  these  instruments  makes  the  close  of  the  Psalms 
like  the  vast  and  beautiful  lake  where  it  pours  forth  all 
its  waters  at  the  cataract  amid  the  thunders  of  Niagara. 
But  all  these  thunders  come  from  the  inspiration  of  the 
name  Jah ;  and  no  star  has  any  light  except  as  it  pours 
forth  its  music  in  the  adoration  of  Jah. 

With  this  explanation,  then,  that  sirefigth  stands  for  the 
strong  foundation  on  which  faith  plants  its  foot,  and  that 
Ihe  song  stands  for  the  worship  which  is  properly  the  out- 
Avard  expression  or  voice  of  faith,  or  the  psalm  or  song 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,    AXD   LOVE. 


93 


that  gave  the  temple  its  inner  beauty,  how  wonderfully- 
prophetic  do  the  words  prove  to  be  that  were  uttered  at 
the  Red  Sea,  "  My  strength  and  song  is  Jah  !" 

The  special  connection  of  the  Divine  name  Ehyeh 
asher  Ehyeh  (I-will-be-that-I-will-be)  is  with  hope.  This 
adorable  name  is  so  clearly  of  the  future  tense  in  all  its 
structure,  and  it  was  so  manifestly  used  in  the  peculiar 
meaning  of  the  future  tense  when  it  was  first  communi- 
cated to  Moses,  that  no  further  argument  is  needed  to 
show  that  our  hope,  which  is  essentially  a  prospective 
emotion,  is  associated  with  it. 

It  now  comes  in  order  to  determine,  or  try  to  deter- 
mine, what  place  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Beloved,  fills  in 
the  Trinity  of  the  tetragrammaton.  When  Ehyeh  asher 
Ehyeh  has  risen  separately  in  the  beginning  of  the  ancient 
patriarchal  Jehovah,  and  Jah  has  risen  separately  in  its 
last  letters,  there  still  remains  an  element  in  the  centre 
that  does  not  go  into  either  of  these  two  names,  but  con- 
tinues untouched  between  them.  This  is  the  present 
tense,  between  the  future  tense  at  the  beginning  and  the 
past  tense  in  the  last  letters.  This  element  holds  its  seat 
in  the  long  sound  of  the  vowel  <?,  which  is  the  central 
and  most  distinct  and  commanding  vocalic  sound  in  the 
word  Jehovah  ;  it  lodges  in  the  Hebrew  letter  vav,  and 
the  Hebrew  name  for  it  is  holem;  the  Greeks  called  it 
omega.  This  central  element  has  been  found  standing 
by  itself  for  Jehovah,  with  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh  standing 
apart  from  it  on  one  side  and  Jah  standing  apart  from  it 
on  the  other  side.  For  instance :  take  the  name  of  the 
prophet  Joel,  or,  as  a  Hebrew  would  pronounce  it,  Yoel.* 
The  first  syllable  stands  for  the  tetragrammaton ;  the 
meaning  of  the  name  vi  Jehovah  is  El;  yet  this  first  sylla- 
ble has  neither  the  future  tense  nor  the  past  tense  in  it. 
It  is  only  the  central  element  lodging  in  the  vav,  the 

*  The  name  tOT  Joiachin,  yehovah  will  rectify,  Ezek.  i.  2,  is  pos- 
sibly, a  preferable  example. 


94 


THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 


omega,  that  unites  with  El  in  this  prophet's  name,  yet  it 
stands  here  in  unquestioned  equality  with  the  full  Jehovah. 
This  vav,  or  central  vocalic  sound  of  the  tetragrammaton. 
furnishes  the  seat  which  the  Beloved  fills.  The  Trinity 
here  is  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh  first,  and  Jah  last,  and  the 
Beloved  in  the  centre  enthroned  in  that  central  tetra- 
grammatic  element  which  became  united  with  El  to  con- 
stitute the  name  Joel. 

A  transparent  appropriateness  requires  that  the  Beloved 
be  thus  placed  in  the  centre  of  this  Trinity.  The  chief 
perspective  emotion  has  its  field  between  the  prospective 
emotions  and-  the  retrospective  emotions.  Love  is  the 
chief  perspective  emotion,  revealing  the  man's  whole  life 
in  the  realities  of  the  present  hour,  while  hope  sees  man 
in  the  boundless  future,  and  faith  and  repentance  see 
man  and  God  in  the  boundless  past.  If  hope  beholds  its 
Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh  in  the  unmeasured  future,  and  faith 
beholds  its  Jah  in  the  unmeasured  past,  love  holds  the 
hand  of  its  Beloved  in  the  present  measured  life  between 
the  others. 

We  go  one  great  step  further,  and  assert  that  a  theo- 
logical necessity  most  majestic  and  awful  sets  the  Beloved 
in  the  centre.  With  Jah  in  one  side  of  our  belief  as 
omnipotent  in  all  the  past,  and  with  I-will-be-that-I-will- 
be  enthroned  through  all  the  future  in  the  other  side  of 
our  belief,  there  is  the  vast  yawning  vacancy,  the  bottom- 
less chasm,  between  them,  if  the  Beloved  does  not  hold 
the  intervening  space.  All  our  faith  in  Jah  may  just  stop 
and  settle  on  this  verse,  and  be  able  to  go  no  further 
(Ps.  cxxx.  3):  "If  thou,  Lord,  shouldst  mark  iniquities, 
O  Lord,  who  shall  stand?"  or,  to  restore  some  of  the 
original  words,  "If  thou,  Jah,  shouldst  mark  iniquities,  O 
Adonai,  who  shall  stand?"  If  thou,  Jah,  keepest  in  the 
book  of  thy  remembrance  and  before  the  eye  of  thy  jus- 


OF  FAITH,    HOPF,    AND   LOVE.  95 

tice  all  our  past  iniquities,  then,  Adonai,  we  all  perish  ! 
And  if  our  faith  in  Jah  must  stop  at  this  verse,  our  hope 
of  immortality  becomes  a  very  dim  star  in  the  vacant 
space  beyond  the  grave,  and  our  prospect  in  the  infinite 
future  resembles  that  scarcely  visible  planet  most  dis- 
tant from  the  sun,  where  the  sun's  light  is  reduced 
to  a  dull  luminous  point,  and  unbroken  ice  and  snows 
that  never  thaw  cover  all  things,  so  that  no  being  with 
a  warm  heart  can  ever  bear  such  a  w^orld.  Now,  mark 
that  this  is  just  what  all  our  religion  amounts  to  if  the 
Beloved  does  not  fill  that  space  between  Jah  and  I-will- 
be-that-I-will-be.  Faith  in  God  before  all  things,  and 
the  hope  of  immortality,  must  have  a  glowing  love 
filling  the  space  between  them  ;  for  without  this  they 
only  make  a  religion  with  no  heart  and  no  life,  and  as 
cold  as  polar  ice.  A  yawning  and  dismal  emptiness 
was  in  all  heathen  religions.  Specific  Judaism  brought 
into  that  empty  space  the  Lord  who  should  be  loved 
with  all  the  heart  and  all  the  soul  and  all  the  strength; 
and  this  was  the  specific  and  glorious  work  of  Judaism 
for  the  world.  If  you  set  up  faith  and  hope,  and  ardent 
love  is  not  present  to  fill  the  space  between  them,  or  if 
you  have  Jah  and  I-will-be-that-I-will-be  before  you,  and 
the  Beloved  is  not  enthroned  between  them,  you  have  a 
vacant  chasm  there,  the  most  dismal  that  ever  entered 
the  eye  of  any  imagination,  and  even  the  most  dismal 
that  the  Creator's  eye  ever  descries  in  the  immeasurable 
depths  of  darkness  that  lie  infinitely  far  away  beneath  his 
throne.  What  would  the  Hebrew  Bible  be  if  it  consisted 
of  only  Genesis  and  the  book  of  Daniel, — the  chapters 
on  the  patriarchs  and  creation  and  God  before  all,  at  the 
beginning,  and^he  wonderful  visions  of  future  monarchies 
and  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  imperishable  kingdom, 
at  the  close, — but  there  were  no  glowing  Psalms  and  no 


g6  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

Song  of  Solomon  in  it?  It  would  indeed  be  a  book  with 
its  whole  heart  cut  out.  Well,  let  this  be  one  illustration 
to  show  what  Jah  and  I-will-be-that-I-will-be  are  if  the 
Beloved  is  not  in  his  place  between  them.  Or,  if  the 
New  Testament  is  made  to  consist  only  of  the  retrospect- 
ive record  at  its  beginning  and  the  prospective  record  at 
the  close, — only  the  genealogy  of  the  Son  of  David,  and 
the  mysterious  lesson  that  the  Word  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God,  and  all  things  were 
made  by  him,  in  the  beginning,  and  the  Apocalypse  at 
the  close,  which  casts  a  strong  light  on  all  the  intermina- 
ble path  that  lies  in  the  future,  and  is  brilliant  with  the 
visions  of  the  seven  seals  opened,  the  seven  trumpets,  the 
seven  vials  of  Divine  judgment,  and,  finally,  the  visions 
of  the  resurrection  and  the  ultimate  rewards  of  the 
righteous  and  wicked, — but  from  the  centre  is  dropped 
out  the  whole  of  that  life  of  love  when  the  blind  saw, 
the  deaf  heard,  the  lepers  were  cleansed,  the  dead  were 
restored  to  life,  the  poor  received  the  glad  tidings,  and 
of  the  death  on  the  cross, — here  occurs  a  chasm  in  the 
centre  changing  the  whole  character  of  the  book,  or, 
rather,  indicating  the  spot  where  the  vital  heart  of  the 
whole  book  has  dropped  out ;  and  this  chasm  is  another 
illustration  of  the  chasm  in  that  theology  which  contains 
Jah  and  I-will-be-that-I-will-be  without  the  Beloved  in 
his  place  between  them.  Or,  suppose  that  a  book  appears 
on  the  philosophy  of  mail's  spiritual  and  moral  nature, 
the  faculties  of  the  immortal  soul,  and  dwells  only  on 
the  retrospective  and  the  prospective  sentiments  and 
emotions, — the  retrospective,  such  as  memory,  faith,  re- 
pentance, regret,  experience,  and  gratitude,  and  the  pros- 
pective, which  include  all  anticipations  and  hopes, — but 
love  is  entirely  left  out ;  the  love  of  holiness  is  not  even 
mentioned,  nor  the  love  of  power,  nor  the  love  of  knowl- 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,   AND   LOVE.  97 

edge,  nor  the  love  of  property,  nor  parental  love,  nor 
filial  love,  nor  the  love  of  country,  nor  the  love  of  friends, 
nor  the  love  of  truth,  nor  the  love  of  angels,  nor  the  love 
of  God  burning  in  the  soul, — it  is  manifest  that  this  book 
has  left  out  the  whole  heart  of  its  great  subject ;  and  this 
is  another  illustration  of  what  faith  and  hope  are  without 
love  in  the  middle,  or  of  what  religion  is  without  the 
Beloved  as  the  central  figure. 

The  Beloved  appears  in  the  Pentateuch.  Moses  pro- 
nounced his  last  blessing  on  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  in 
this  language:  "The  Beloved  of  Jehovah  shall  dwell  in 
safety  by  him  ;  covering  over  him  all  the  day,  and  dwell- 
ing between  his  shoulders."  (Deut.  xxxiii.  12.)  The 
mount  which  was  to  support  the  temple  was  called  the 
shoulders  of  Benjamin.  There  the  Shekinah  was  to 
occupy  his  throne  in  the  most  holy  chamber  of  the 
temple.  It  was  believed  that  the  Shekinah  would  never 
leave  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  or  Jerusalem  for  any  other 
mount.  The  Beloved  of  the  Lord  had  his  home  with 
Benjamin,  the  protector  over  him  all  the  day.  This 
Beloved  was  the  Dweller  in  the  Bush,  the  one  who  re- 
vealed himself  by  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  the  burning 
bush  of  Horeb.  Hence,  when  Moses  passes  in  his  bene- 
dictions from  Benjamin  to  Joseph,  he  again  introduces 
the  Beloved  as  the  one  who  dwelt  in  the  bush,  evidently 
having  the  future  fact  in  his  eye  that  the  Beloved  of  the 
Lord  should  hold  his  seat  between  the  cherubim,  for  some 
time,  in  the  tribe  of  Joseph,  before  he  should  finally  settle 
his  home  with  Benjamin.  Many  blessed  things  were  men- 
tioned in  the  blessing  of  Joseph,  but  the  crown  of  all  was 
"the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush,"  the  won- 
derful grace  that  should  descend  upon  the  tribe  when  the 
Shekinah  should  be  tarrying  at  Shiloh. 

The  Beloved  was  prominent  in  the  visions  of  the  pro- 

E  9 


98  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

phets.  Isaiah  foresaw  the  day  when  all  Israel  should  be 
a  holy  people,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  should  be  over 
all  the  assemblies  of  Mount  Zion,  as  a  cloud  and  smoke 
by  day  and  a  fire  by  night ;  and  then  the  song  to  the 
Beloved  came  into  the  prophet's  mind:  "Now  will  I 
sing  to  my  well-beloved  a  song  of  my  beloved  touching  his 
vineyard.  My  well-beloved  hath  a  vineyard  in  a  very 
fruitful  hill."  (Isaiah  v.)  The  song  proceeds  to  tell  of 
the  labor  that  was  bestowed  on  the  vineyard,  and  how  the 
Beloved  expected  the  best  fruit,  but  the  expectations  failed ; 
and  finally  how  the  vineyard  was  given  up  to  briers  and 
thorns  and  all  the  ground  was  opened  to  the  feet  of  trav- 
elers. 

The  prophet  Jeremiah  dwells  on  the  sad  days  of  the 
captivity,  when  the  Beloved  left  the  temple  and  the 
Babylonians  burnt  it.  In  his  eleventh  and  twelfth  chap- 
ters he  uses  the  term  Beloved  both  with  the  termination 
indicating  that  it  is  masculine  and  the  termination  indi- 
cating that  it  is  feminine.  In  its  feminine  form,  Yediduth, 
it  is  the  corrupt  church  of  that  age;  and  God  says,  "I 
have  forsaken  mine  house,  I  have  left  mine  heritage  ;  I 
have  given  the  dearly-beloved  of  my  soul  into  the  hand 
of  her  enemies."  But  in  its  masculine  form  it  stands 
for  the  Shekinah  whom  the  Lord  calls  his  own,  when  he 
assures  the  prophet  that  he  need  not  utter  any  prayer  or 
cry  for  the  people ;  and  the  Lord's  exclamation  is,  ''  What 
hath  my  Beloved  to  do  in  mine  house?" — that  is,  How 
can  my  Shekinah  abide  any  longer  in  a  temple  so  polluted 
by  the  people?     (This  last  form  is  Ycdid.) 

The  heart  of  the  Jewish  Bible  is  found  in  the  Hagio- 
grapha;  and  there  the  Beloved  is  seen  most  clearly  in  his 
excellent  beauty.  The  forty-fifth  Psalm  is  called  A  So/ig 
of  Loves :  all  its  wonderful  inspiration  is  the  inspiration 
of  love.     There  the  Beloved  appears  as  a  conqueror  and 


OF  FAITH,    HOPE,   AND   LOVE,  gg 

king,  the  occupant  of  an  everlasting  throne;  and  there 
is  the  bride  in  her  rich  dress  and  Divine  beauty.  Distant 
nations  bring  their  presents  to  her. 

But  this  psalm  must  fall  into  the  shade  by  the  side  of 
the  princely  song  of  attachment,  the  Song  of  Songs,  the 
Song  of  Solomon.  This  is  the  transcendently  illustrious 
/ij7nn  of  the  Bible,  according  to  the  primitive  meaning 
of  the  word  hymn,  namely,  a  marriage-song.  The  same 
Beloved  is  present  everywhere  in  this  song,  the  Shekinah, 
the  Dweller  in  the  Bush:  so  say  the  most  learned  and 
worthy  rabbis,  such  as  Aben  Ezra,  and  they  express  their 
abhorrence  of  the  degrading  theory  which  would  find 
only  earthly  or  human  love  in  all  this  song.  The  bush 
at  Horeb  was  burning  in  fire  yet  not  consumed ;  but  here 
all  the  gardens  and  vineyards  of  Solomon  are  wrapped  in 
a  celestial  fire,  and  it  all  is  the  fire  of  love.  The  church 
is  here  seen  going  up  through  the  wilderness  amid  pillars 
of  ascending  incense,  leaning  on  her  Beloved.  If  any 
one  would  understand  this  song,  his  hands  must  drop 
with  myrrh,  his  fingers  with  sweet-smelling  myrrh,  upon 
the  handles  of  the  lock,  where  the  meaning  of  the  song 
is  laid  open.  Every  joy  and  every  grief  in  the  com- 
munion of  Israel  with  God  has  its  expression  in  this 
song.  The  rabbis  have  well  decided  that  this  song  is 
the  holy  of  holies  of  the  Bib^e,  and  the  Dweller  in  the 
bush,  the  Beloved,  is  in  it,  over  the  mercy-seat ;  and  we 
find  here  the  crowning  proof  that  Jehovah  -who  spake 
from  the  bush  to  Moses  is  the  Beloved  of  Israel,  that  he 
reveals  his  glory  in  this  characteristic  above  all  others,  that 
the  whole  flame  in  which  he  dwells  is  the  flame  of  love. 

Rev.  Dr.  Guinzburg,  you  are  now  invited  to  pass 
with  me  over  into  the  .New  Testament  and  have  a  talk 
with  me  on  the  great  subject  whether  this  same  Jah  and 
Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh  and  Beloved  reveal  themselves  in  the 


lOO  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

New  Testament,  whether  the  Father  here  stands  in  the 
same  relation  to  faith  witli  Jah,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  same  relation  to  hope  with  Ehyeh  asher  Ehych,  and 
the  Beloved  is  the  same  Divine  person  from  Malachi  to 
Matthew  and  from  the  Pentateuch  to  the  Apocalypse.  It 
may  be  wonderful  to  you  if  you  should  find  it  so.  May 
light  and  love  shed  their  beauty  along  our  path  as  we 
proceed  in  this  investigation  ! 

The  first  question  is,  Does  the  Father,  in  the  New 
Testament,  have  the  same  relation  to  faith  that  the  name 
Jah  has  in  specific  Judaism  ?  Listen  to  the  voice  that 
answers  (John  xii.  44) :  *'  Jesus  cried  and  said.  He  that 
believeth  on  me  believeth  not  on  me,  but  on  him  that 
sent  me."  This  appears  to  mean  that  the  deep  and 
strong  foundation  that  lies  under  true  faith  is  not  prop- 
erly Jesus  by  himself,  a  separate  person  from  the  Father, 
but  rather  the  Father  as  God,  and  the  Divine  attributes  of 
the  Father,  such  as  eternity,  omnipotence,  omniscience, 
holiness,  justice,  truth,  and  love.  These  attributes,  as 
dwelling  in  the  Father,  are  the  rock  of  ages  on  which 
faith  stands.  The  same  view  is  brought  out  differently 
in  another  passage  and  on  another  occasion.  "  My 
sheep,"  says  Jesus,' "hear  my  voice,  and  I  know  them, 
and  they  follow  me ;  and  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life ;  and 
they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  man  pluck  them 
out  of  my  hand.  My  Father,  which  gave  them  me,  is 
greater  than  all ;  and  no  man  is  able  to  pluck  them  out 
of  my  Father's  hand.  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  This 
appears  to  mean  that  the  more  deeply  established  safety 
is  in  the  strength  of  the  Father,  and  that  all  his  strength 
lies  in  the  depths  of  that  eternal  foundation  on  which 
the  temple  of  the  Christian's  saving  faith  is  built. 

The  disciples  received  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  on  the 
testimony  of  the  Father.     At  his  baptism  the  voice  of 


OF  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  LOVE.  loi 

the  Father  was  heard,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased."  At  the  transfiguration  the 
voice  from  heaven  came  again,  "This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Shortly  before  the 
crucifixion,  w^hen  Jesus  made  the  prayer,  "Father,  glorify 
thy  name,"  a  voice  came  from  heaven,  "I  have  both  glo- 
rified it,  and  will  glorify  it  again;"  and  that  voice  came 
like  a  peal  of  thunder,  not  for  the  sake  of  Jesus,  but  as  the 
testimony  of  the  Father  for  the  people,  which  they  should 
receive  in  faith.  Thus  the  belief  in  the  Son  of  God  was 
only  the  reception  of  the  testimony  of  the  Father.  Paul 
exhibits  that  faith  by  which  the  believer  is  justified,  and 
which  is  illustrated  by  the  faith  that  was  imputed  to 
Abraham  for  righteousness,  in  this  expression:  '"  If  we 
believe  on  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord  from  the 
dead."  The  chapter  which  is  the  great  gallery  of  the 
pictures  of  the  faith  of  patriarchs  and  prophets  has  these 
verses  near  its  beginning  :  "  By  faith  we  understand  that 
the  universe  is  framed  by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  the 
world  which  we  behold  springs  not  from  things  that  can 
be  seen ;"  "Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him : 
for  he  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and 
that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him." 
(Heb.  xi.) 

Worship  is  the  visible  form  which  faith  assumes,  and 
Christian  prayer  looks  as  directly  to  the  Father  as  the 
praise  in  the  Psalms  looked  towards  Jah.  There  are 
instances  in  the  New  Testament  of  prayer  addressed 
directly  to  Jesus,  such  as  the  prayer  of  Stephen  in  his 
last  moments,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit;"  but  such 
instances  are  very  few.  The  promise  of  Jesus  in  relation 
to  prayer  is  this  :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  what- 
soever ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  my  name,  he  will  give  it 
you."     Prayer  among  Christians  is  the  offering  up  of  the 

9* 


I02  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

desires  unto  God  for  things  agreeable  to  his  will,  in  the 
name  of  Christ.  It  goes  directly  to  the  Father,  and  ex- 
pects the  blessing  to  be  sent  in  the  name  of  Christ.  The 
six  petitions  of  the  model  prayer,  commonly  called  the 
Lord's  prayer,  are  addressed  to  our  Father  in  heaven, 
and  no  other  person  is  associated  with  him.  Some  of 
the  prayers  of  Jesus  were,  "Father,  glorify  thy  name;" 
"  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit;"  which 
are  left  as  examples  to  be  followed.  The  great  prayer  of 
the  night  before  the  crucifixion  is  addressed  to  the 
P'ather  alone,  and  often  repeats  his  holy  name.  The 
same  direct  address  of  prayer  to  the  Father  appears  to 
have  been  followed  by  Paul.  He  writes  thus:  "  For  this 
cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;"  and  then  he  gives  the  contents  of  the  prayer 
on  his  bended  knees  :  "  that  he  would  grant  you,  accord- 
ing to  the  riches  of  his  glory,  to  be  strengthened  with 
might  by  his  Spirit  in  the  inner  man  ;  that  Christ  may 
dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith."     (Eph.  iii.  14-17.) 

The  second  question  is.  Does  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
New  Testament  have  the  same  relation  to  hope  that  the 
name  I-will-be-that-Lwill-be  has  in  specific  Judaism  ? 
The  blessed  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  lies  in  the. bound- 
less future,  and  it  fills  all  that  future  with  the  peace  and 
joy  of  heaven.  The  Holy  Spirit  first  kindles  the  true 
love  of  God  in  the  wicked  heart  of  man  :  the  regenerated 
heart  is  the  production  of  this  Spirit.  He  led  Jesus  into 
the  wilderness  ;  and  he  is  the  guide  and  comforter  of  his 
people  through  every  wilderness  of  temptation  and  sor- 
row. He  breathes  holy  prayers  into  the  heart,  and  in- 
spires joys  and  hopes.  He  is  shedding  his  influence 
through  the  whole  life,  on  the  heart,  to  bring  back  the 
holy  image  of  God,  and  bring  it  on  nearer  and  nearer 
to  perfection.     The  hope  of  the  moral  regeneration  of 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND   LOVE.  103 

our  world  is  in  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is  prom- 
ised that  he  will  abide  among  believers  till  the  end  of  the 
world ;  and  when  the  knowledge  of  God  will  cover  the 
earth,  and  peace,  holiness,  and  joy  will  drive  all  moral 
darkness  from  our  world,  all  this  will  only  show  what 
the  Holy  Ghost  has  wrought.  There  is  no  better  promise 
for  the  world  than  that  God  will  pour  his  Spirit  upon  all 
flesh ;  and  there  is  no  better  promise  for  the  house  of 
David  than  that  God  will  pour  upon  it  the  spirit  of 
grace  and  of  supplications. 

The  work  of  Jesus  is  in  a  certain  sense  finished,  but 
the  great  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  our  world  is  still 
in  the  future.  The  sinner's  legal  title  to  heaven  is  one 
thing,  but  the  moral  preparation  of  his  heart  and  of  his 
whole  spiritual  nature  for  heaven  is  another  thing.  Jesus 
has  purchased  this  title  to  heaven  by  his  own  blood,  and 
this  work  is  finished ;  but  the  moral  preparation  for 
heaven  is  the  work  in  the  hands  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as 
long  as  the  man  lives.  The  work  of  Jesus  for  the  repent- 
ing sinner  reaches  perfection  in  one  moment ;  which 
interesting  truth  may  be  thus  explained,  that  the  mo- 
ment the  sinner  accepts  by  faith  God's  offer  of  eternal 
life,  his  legal  title  to  heaven  is  as  perfect  as  it  can 
ever  become  in  millions  of  ages.  The  moment  a  man 
charged  with  a  crime  is  pronounced  innocent  in  court, 
his  legal  acquittal  is  as  perfect  as  it  ever  can  become, 
and  it  would  not  be  increased  by  the  highest  moral  ex- 
cellence in  his  life  during  later  long  years.  The  day  a 
child  is  born,  it  has  as  perfect  a  title  to  be  counted  a 
member  of  the  human  family  as  subsequent  ages  can  ever 
give  it.  But  the  work  in  the  hands  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
a  spiritual  growth,  a  moral  development,  which  the  pres- 
ent mortal  life  never  brings  to  perfection.  Justification 
being  an  act,  and  sanctification  being  a  work,  as  they  are 


104  '^^^^   TRmiTARTAN-  RELATIONS 

understood  by  Christian  theologians,  illustrate  how  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  his  dominion  in  the  vast  future,  while 
the  work  of  Jesus  for  the  sinner  in  justification  by  faith 
and  in  the  adoption  into  the  family  of  God  is  rather  the 
limited  and  perfect  work  of  a  present  moment. 

The  third  question  is,  Whether  the  Beloved  who  oc- 
cupied the  centre  of  the  Trinity  in  specific  Judaism,  and 
on  whom  the  ancient  church  leaned  going  up  through 
the  wilderness,  who  was  seen  walking  through  all  the 
gardens  of  Solomon's  Song,  is  one  and  the  same  person 
constituting  the  centre  of  the  Trinity  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ?  One  of  the  most  definitive  names  for  Jesus  in  the 
New  Testament  is  the  Beloved.  When  it  is  said  that  the 
Father  by  his  glorious  grace  "hath  made  us  accepted  in 
the  Beloved,"  this  Beloved  is  Jesus.  Many  verses  in  the 
gospels  present  Jesus  both  as  the  Beloved  of  his  Father 
and  the  Beloved  of  his  people:  for  instance,  "As  the 
Father  hath  loved  me,  so  have  I  loved  you :  continue  ye 
in  my  love."  Another  verse  reads,  "For  the  Father 
himself  loveth  you,  because  ye  have  loved  me,  and  have 
believed  that  I  came  out  from  God." 

The  name  Jesus,  or  Son  of  God,  is  the  luminous  centre 
from  which  the  radiations  of  holy  love  are  now  spreading, 
in  the  beauty  of  the  morning,  over  all  our  world.  Holy 
love  is  essentially  religious  love.  This  needs  to  be  made 
emphatic  :  it  is  religions  love.  And,  first,  let  it  be  under- 
stood that  it  is  essentially  different  from  the  common  love 
of  parents  to  their  children,  or  the  common  affection 
between  the  members  of  a  family.  Most  intense  may  be 
a  parent's  kindness  to  his  children,  and  most  intense  his 
interest  in  their  education  and  their  success  in  the  world; 
yet  his  kindness  may  have  no  religious  character,  it  may 
not  even  once  enter  the  higher  sphere  of  religion.  A 
man  may  be  an  exceedingly  affectionate  parent,  and  yet 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,   AND   LOVE.  105 

his  avowed  creed  may  be  that  there  is  no  God,  and  no 
heaven  for  which  he  ought  to  pray  that  his  children  may 
be  prepared.  Love  to  children  is  an  impulse  of  nature ; 
it  is  no  religious  principle.  The  same  principle  exists  in 
great  strength  among  brutes ;  and  brutes,  like  men,  from 
a  natural  impulse  will  defend  one  another  in  danger  with 
all  their  force,  and  protect  the  wounded  one  among  them. 
No  love  which  has  its  growth  from  man's  animal  nature, 
whatever  may  be  its  intensity  and  whatever  may  be  its 
excellence,  ought  to  pass  for  a  religious  love.  The  deca- 
logue commands  children  to  honor  their  father  and 
mother ;  but  it  does  not  place  a  law  on  parents  that  they 
must  love  their  children  ;  it  does  not  descend  so  low 
beneath  the  proper  sphere  of  man's  free  moral  will ;  it 
leaves  such  love  as  an  impulse  of  the  lower  animal  nature, 
and  makes  no  mention  of  it.  Instances  are  often  found 
where  there  is  the  luxuriant  and  most  beautiful  growth 
of  this  lower  affection  in  a  family,  while  the  higher  re- 
ligious duties  are  in  no  way  acknowledged.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  lower  field  of  love  and  affection  might  be 
expected  to  come  nearest  to  perfection  in  the  family 
where  the  whole  attention  is  given  to  it  and  the  higher 
field  of  religious  duty  is  never  entered.  Let  it  further 
be  noted  that  there  may  be  a  flaming  religious  fanaticism 
with  no  element  of  this  holy  love  in  it.  Such  was  the 
fanaticism  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed,  who  raised  one 
of  the  greatest  empires  that  the  world  ever  saw,  on  an  in- 
tensely unitarian  creed  ;  but  is  there  any  one  who  would 
assert  that  holy  love  was  the  mainspring  of  their  religion  ? 
True  holy  love  may  be  viewed  as  a  complex  excellency 
of  the  heart,  or  sentiment,  with  the  following  variety  of 
points  in  it : — that  faith  which  exclaims.  Though  my 
Lord  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  him  ;  if  I  cannot  place 
my  trust  in  him,   there  is  no  other  s—xyidX   loving  faith 

E* 


lo6  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

which  wades  through  all  the  perplexing  questions  involved 
in  the  fact  that  the  wicked  have  such  brilliant  success  in 
the  present  world,  while  the  whole  life  of  the  righteous 
sometimes  appears  like  one  continued  calamity,  and  which 
plants  its  feet  upon  the  rock  and  there  sings,  "Whom 
have  I  in  heaven  but  thee?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth 
that  I  desire  beside  thee"  (Ps.  Ixxiii.  25);  a  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  the  immortal  soul  as  having  been 
created  originally  in  the  image  of  God, — namely,  the 
image  of  his  eternity  and  holiness ;  a  sympathy  with 
the  whole  race  as  having  fallen  into  such  a  state  of 
sin  and  woe  that  it  could  be  truthfully  said  that  "  it 
repented  the  Lord  that  he  had  made  nlan  on  the 
earth"  (Gen.  vi.  6);  a  special  sympathy  with  man  as 
having  early  fallen  into  the  fatal  mistake  of  a  distrust  of 
the  word  of  his  Creator,  so  that  he  accepted  the  lying 
seraph  (serpent),  or  Satan  transformed  into  an  angel  of 
light,  as  a  more  truthful  counselor  and  a  warmer  friend ; 
a  conviction  that  he  was  justly  driven  from  God's  pres- 
ence, and  that  he  still  continues  expelled  from  paradise ; 
a  sorrowful  feeling  for  him  as  still  persevering  in  the  same 
great  sin  of  a  distrust  of  the  word  of  God,  so  that  he  is 
repeating  Adam's  sin  continually ;  a  conviction  that  this 
distrust  of  God  is  the  sure  road  to  the  soul's  utter  ruin, 
the  man's  everlasting  loss;  a  belief  that  God  has  com- 
municated certain  definite  terms  on  which  he  will  receive 
man  back  into  his  favor  and  open  again  the  door  of  para- 
dise ;  a  cordial  acceptance  of  these  terras,  a  delight  in 
the  study  of  them,  a  delight  in  the  spreading  of  the 
proclamation  of  them,  a  conviction  that  the  most  sacred 
duty  is  to  instruct  all  the  world  in  these  terms  and  press 
their  acceptance  by  every  man ;  a  rapturous  delight  in  all 
evidences  that  God  and  the  immortal  soul  are  brought 
together  and  reconciled ;    an  unspeakable  joy  when  one 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND    LOVE.  107 

sinner  repents ;  a  willingness  to  give  all  possible  help  in 
the  calling  of  all  men  to  repentance  and  faith ;  and  a 
conviction  that  man's  highest  and  only  true  happiness  is 
in  his  nearness  to  God  by  faith  and  love.  These  varied 
elements  exhibit  and  illustrate  that  true  holy  love  which 
ministers  to  the  sick  and  sends  food  to  the  poor,  which 
brings  help  to  the  suffering  body,  but  which  believes  the 
woe  of  the  soul,  in  its  distrust  of  God,  to  be  the  infinitely 
greater  woe,  and  its  supreme  desire  is  to  bring  some  help 
to  the  soul  which  may  soon  fall  away  from  God  into 
everlasting  darkness.  This  is  the  love  which  now  radi- 
ates through  all  the  world  from  the  name  of  Jesus  as  its 
fountain  and  centre.  The  love  of  Jesus  translates  the 
Bible  into  all  languages  and  teaches  it  in  schools  among 
all  nations.  The  love  of  Jesus  travels  to  the  howling 
deserts  of  heathenism  and  plants  the  rose  of  Sharon 
there.  The  love  of  Jesus  knows  no  difference  between 
Jew  and  Gentile  in  respect  to  the  essential  wants  of  the 
soul  and  the  terms  for  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  admis- 
sion to  eternal  life.  When  any  John  preaches  in  the 
wilderness  with  the  equal  flame  of  zeal  and  love,  calling 
all  to  repentance  and  proclaiming  the  unquenchable  fire 
for  every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit,  you 
may  be  sure  that  the  name  of  Jesus  inspires  him.  If  any 
Whitefield  is  again  visiting  continents  and  islands  and 
bringing  ships  together  on  the  ocean  by  the  attraction 
of  his  voice,  proclaiming  the  holiness  of  God,  the 
amazing  love  of  God  to  perishing  sinners,  the  blessed 
word  which  he  has  sent  ns,  the  great  danger  of  a  distrust 
of  that  word,  the  supreme  duty  of  implicit  faith  in  it, 
and  if  many  listen  with  tears  and  are  pierced  in  their 
consciences  as  with  flaming  arrows,  and  pray  for  forgive- 
ness and  turn  to  righteousness,  it  is  only  the  love  o^  the 
Son  of  God  that  gives  the  world  such  a  preacher. 


io8  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS 

A  man  may  be  fortified  with  seven  mighty  horns 
planted  on  his  head  to  drive  the  orthodox  Christian 
faith  away  from  his  sight,  yet  that  faith  may  penetrate 
into  him  without  being  seen,  and  strike  his  heart,  and 
effectually  conquer  him  by  the  love  which  it  kindles  there. 
Or,  to  elucidate  this  thought  more  fully,  a  man  may  be 
so  fortified  against  the  orthodox  doctrine,  with  the  objec- 
tions that  three  cannot  be  one  and  one  cannot  be  three, — 
that  the  Father  cannot  send  the  Son,  and  the  Son  obey 
the  Father,  and  both  be  in  the  Godhead,  and  still  the 
Godhead  remain  one  and  indivisible, — that  these  objec- 
tions appear  like  seven  horns  occupying  his  intellect  and 
reason  and  always  hurling  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
away  from  him  into  the  regions  of  impossibility  and  self- 
contradiction  ;  yet  an  impression  of  the  perfect  holiness 
of  the  character  of  Jesus  may  enter  that  man's  heart;  and 
if  a  true  love  for  the  name  of  Jesus  once  commences,  a 
true  sympathy  with  Jesus  as  the  friend  of  sinners,  the  man 
becomes  a  Christian,  and  virtually  an  adherent  of  the 
orthodox  creed;  and  if  the  horns  do  continue  for  a  time 
to  hold  their  place  overshadowing  the  head  or  intellect, 
eventually  they,»become  lifeless,  weak,  brittle,  and  crum- 
bling, and  at  last  drop  off  of  themselves.  The  power  of 
the  religion  of  Jesus  is  in  love;  and  in  many  instances 
this  love  has  effectually  captured  the  heart  while  the  whole 
intellect  still  continued  to  bristle  with  the  sharp  and  de- 
fiant horns  of  adverse  argument. 

Jewish  scholars  often  give  a  text  as  a  means  to  assist 
the  memory  in  retaining  some  number  or  some  weighty 
truth ;  and  I  will  now  try  to  do  this  for  you.  I  find  a  text 
in  Solomon's  Song,  in  which  I  will  try  to  inclose  all  the 
contents  of  the  present  long  letter.  First,  I  suppose,  you 
will  look  with  delight  at  some  of  the  beautiful  bouquets 
which  English  poets  have  gathered  as  they  walked  through 


•      OF  FAITH,   HOPE,  AND  LOVE.  109 

the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  particularly  through  the  second 
chapter.     Please  look  at  these  : — 

"As  much  as  fairest  lilies  can  surpass 
A  thorn  in  beauty,  or  in  height  the  grass, 
So  does  my  love  among  the  virgins  shine. 
Adorned  with  graces  more  than  half  divine ; 
Or  as  a  tree,  that,  glorious  to  behold. 
Is  hung  with  apples  all  of  ruddy  gold, 
Hesperian  fruit,  and  beautifully  high, 
Extends  its  branches  to  the  sky. 
So  does  my  Love  the  virgin's  eyes  invite  : 
'Tis  he  alone  can  fix  their  wandering  sight, 
Among  ten  thousand  eminently  bright. 

"  Beneath  his  pleasing  shade 
My  wearied  limbs  at  ease  I  laid, 
And  on  his  fragrant  boughs  reclined  my  head. 
I  pulled  the  golden  fruit  with  eager  haste  ; 
Sweet  was  the  fruit,  and  pleasing  to  the  taste. 
With  sparkling  wine  he  crowned  the  bowl, 
With  gentle  ecstasies  he  filled  my  soul : 
Joyous  we  sat  beneath  the  shady  grove. 
And  o'er  my  head  he  hung  the  banners  of  his  love." 

Now  look  closely  at  the  third  verse  of  the  second 
chapter:  "As  the  apple-tree  among  the  trees  of  the 
wood,  so  is  my  Beloved  among  the  sons."  Say  that  the 
three-headed  serpent  winding  on  the  silver  belt  of  the 
shield  of  Agamemnon  is  buried  in  the  ground  beneath 
this  tree.  Say  that  the  broken  head  of  the  old  serpent 
in  paradise  has  been  laid  at  the  roots  of  this  tree.  And 
say  that  the  bones  of  many  deified  serpents  of  heathen- 
ism, in  Egypt,  Rome,  and  India,  have  been  buried  close 
to  the  roots  of  this  tree,  to  enrich  the  soil.  The  body 
of  the  tree  close  to  the  ground  and  for  some  distance  up 
is  the  El  Shaddai  of  the  patriarchs,  and  the  great  name 
Jehovah,  in  the  wide  meaning  which  this  term  had  with 
the  patriarchs.     A  higher  part  of  the  body  of  this  tree 

10 


no  THE    TRINITARIAN  RELATIONS  - 

reveals  tlie  Trinity  of  Jah  and  Jehovah  and  Ehych  asher 
Ehyeh  as  Moses  brought  these  three  proper  Divine  names 
into  use.  Adonai  and  the  Beloved  are  terms  holding 
their  places  through  the  body  of  the  tree,  which,  at  a 
good  distance  above  the  Mosaic  Trinity,  becomes  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  of  Christian 
baptism ;  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  abiding 
Comforter,  of  the  New  Testament,  with  the  Beloved  be- 
tween them.  From  these  upper  parts  of  the  body  the 
mighty  branches  spread  out  which  throw  a  shade  of  com- 
fort and  joy  over  all  the  scorching  deserts  of  the  earth. 
No  weary  traveler  has  ever  come  to  this  shade  for  protec- 
tion from  the  heat  and  been  disappointed.  But  now 
look  up  among  the  strong  branches  and  behold  the  beauty 
of  the  tree.  See  its  innumerable  and  rich  blossoms,  and 
its  swelling  buds  just  ready  to  open  into  perfect  leaves. 
Look  up  again,  and  behold  the  numberless  golden  apples 
hanging  on  all  its  highest  branches.  These  apples  are 
faith,  hope,  and  love, — all  the  faith,  hope,  and  love 
of  a  religious  character  that  have  ever  distinguished 
the  people  of  God  among  the  Jews,  and  the  people 
of  God  in  other  nations.  All  the  pages  of  holy  truth 
that  have  ever  gone  from  Christian  presses  to  carry 
light  to  the  heathen  are  leaves  from  this  tree  scat- 
tered over  the  earth  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 
So  long  as  you  continue  looking  up  into  the  tree  you  see 
its  wonders  of  fruit  and  beauty  multiplying  more  and 
more.  Every  kind  word  that  has  ever  been  spoken  in- 
the  name  of  the  God  of  Israel  is  among  the  holy  fruit 
of  this  tree.  The  thrilling  Hallelu  Jah  of  the  temple 
is  there,  and  the  triumph  of  the  true  Christian  as  he  dies 
in  faith  calling  upon  the  Lord.  The  song  of  Moses  is 
there,  and  the  song  of  the  Lamb  also. 

If  you  separate  Jesus  from  this  tree,  and  leave  only 


OF  FAITH,   HOPE,   AND  LOVE.  m 

Moses  and  the  prophets,  you  cut  away  all  the  upper  and 
blooming  part,  and  inflict  prodigious  injury  on  the  tree. 
It  would  be  wrong  to  wrap  all  the  highest  branches  of 
this  tree  in  the  thin  webs  of  the  caterpillar,  so  that  its 
best  leaves  and  fruit  should  lose  their  greenness  and 
perish,  and  the  ground  be  rendered  hideous  by  the  falling 
of  the  insect  from  the  withered  leaves;  but  this  is  pre- 
cisely the  wrong  that  is  justly  charged  on  every  theory 
which  separates  all  the  good  that  has  grown  out  of  Chris- 
tianity from  this  tree,  and  cannot  see  the  works  of  Paul 
and  John,  of  Luther  and  Calvin,  of  Whitefield  and  Watts, 
of  the  Christian  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  and 
Madagascar,  as  fruits  produced  from  this  tree  and  now 
giving  it  much  of  its  sublime  beauty. 

Here  you  advance  with  the  objection  that  Popery  is  an 
apple  which  never  grew  on  a  good  apple-tree  \  and  I  find 
you  inclined  to  make  this  objection  very  prominent. 
You  emphasize  the  image-worship  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
the  prayers  to  the  Virgin,  and  the  horrible  persecutions 
of  Jews,  Waldenses,  and  Protestants.  I  fear  that  you  are 
like  the  man  who  condemns  a  whole  apple-tree  because 
among  its  branches  a  serpent  was  once  shot  and  fell  down 
on  its  roots  to  expire.  It  was  predicted  by  the  apostles  that 
a  great  apostasy  should  arise  in  the  bosom  of  Christendom. 
Paul  assured  the  Thessalonians  that  the  Lord  would  not 
soon  return  to  this  world,  because  there  must  come  first 
"a  falling  away,"  and  ''that  man  of  sin"  must  be  re- 
vealed, "  the  son  of  perdition,  who  opposeth  and  exalteth 
himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshiped ; 
so  that  he  as  God  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God."  And  this  wicked  one  is  further 
described,  "whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan 
with  all  power  and  signs  and  lying  wonders,  and  with 
all  deceivableness  of  unrighteousness  in  them  that  perish  ; 


112      RELATIONS  OF  FAITH,  HOPE,  AND  LOVE. 

because  they  received  not  the  love  of  the  truth,  that  they 
might  be  saved."  Such  are  the  very  impressive  predic- 
tions found  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Second  Epistle 
to  the  Thessalonians.  You  are  safe  in  enumerating  all 
the  abominations  which  you  find  in  Popery  as  so  many 
items  in  the  fulfillment  of  these  predictions.  And  this 
ought  to  be  with  you  an  additional  strong  argument  in 
favor  of  Christianity,  that  the  predictions  in  the  New 
Testament  concerning  a  blasphemous  apostasy  which 
should  arise  in  the  Christian  church  have  been  so  liter- 
ally and  terribly  fulfilled. 

M.  R.  M. 


LETTER    VIL 

My  learned  Correspondent  : — 

Your  articles  which  appeared  in  the  Israelite  on  the 
"  Morality  of  Christianity  compared  with  that  of  Judaism" 
have  left  the  impression  on  my  mind  that  you  believe 
some  texts  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  to  be  adduced  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  with  a  meaning  imposed  on 
them  which  is  foreign  to  their  proper  meaning  and  in 
some  instances  even  contradicts  it.  The  object  of  my 
present  letter  is  to  lay  before  you  the  first  chapter  of  this 
epistle  and  demand  of  you  where  you  can  find  a  single 
flaw  in  all  the  reasoning.  First,  let  the  chapter  here  be 
read  according  to  the  common  version  : 

"God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  man- 
ners spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the 
prophets,  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by 
his  Son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things, 
by  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds ;  who  being  the 
brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person,  and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his 
power,  when  he  had  by  himself  purged  our  sins,  sat 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high; 
being  made  so  much  better  than  the  angels,  as  he 
hath  by  inheritance  obtained  a  more  excellent  name 
than  they. 

"For  unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time, 
Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee  ? 
lo*  113 


114 


FIRST  CHAPTER 


And  again,  I  will  be  to  him  a  Father,  and  he  shall 
be  to  me  a  Son  ? 

And  again,  when  he  bringeth  in  the  first-begotten 
into  the  world,  he  saith,  And  let  all  the  angels  of 
God  worship  him.  And  of  the  angels  he  saith, 
Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits,  and  his  ministers  a 
flame  of  fire.  But  unto  the  Son  he  saith,  Thy  throne, 
O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever :  a  sceptre  of  righteous- 
ness is  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom.  Thou  hast  loved 
righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity;  therefore  God, 
even  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of 
gladness  above  thy  fellows.  And,  Thou,  Lord,  in  the 
beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth ;  and 
the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thine  hands :  they 
shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest ;  and  they  all  shall 
wax  old  as  doth  a  garment ;  and  as  a  vesture  shalt 
thou  fold  them  up,  and  they  shall  be  changed :  but 
thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail. 

"But  to  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time. 
Sit  on  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine  enemies 
thy  footstool  ? 

"Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 
minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation?" 
I  will  next  offer  you  such  a  paraphrase  of  this  chapter 
as  may  set. some  of  the  original  terms  in  a  clearer  light 
and  bring  out  all  the  thread  of  the  argiUTient  at  greater 
length ;  and,  if  you  here  watch,  you  may  see  some  of 
your  objections  very  easily  thrown  out  of  the  way:  — 

God,  who  in  different  parts  and  in  different  ways 
spake  of  old  to  our  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in 
these  last  days  spoken  to  us  by  the  Son,  whom  he 
hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things,  through  whom 
also  he  made  the  worlds ;  who  being  the  emanation 
of  the  glory  and  the  autograph  of  his  substance,  and 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO   THE  HEBREWS. 


"5 


upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,  when 
he  had  through  himself  effected  the  expiation  of 
our  sins,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty 
on  high. 

Being  so  much  greater  than  the  angels  as  he  hath 
by  inheritance  obtained  a  more  excellent  name  than 
they,  whether  this  name  be  The  Son  of  God,  or  the 
single  name  Elohim,  the  common  Hebrew  word  for 
God ;  because, 

First,  his  name  Son  of  God  has  an  excellence 
which  is  wanting  in  the  title  of  angels  as  sons  of 
God ;  and, 

Secondly,  his  name  Elohim  has  an  excellence 
which  is  wanting  in  the  title  of  angels  as  Elohim. 

As  to  the  first  name,  The  Son  of  God,  let  a  single 
question  decide  the  point.  To  which  of  the  angels 
said  he  at  any  time,  Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have 
I  begotten  thee?  and  again,  I  will  be  to  hi?n  a  Eather, 
and  he  shall  be  to  m.e  a  Son  ? 

When  again,  that  is,  in  another  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture, in  one  of  the  psalms,  he  would  introduce  the 
first-begotten  into  the  world,  he  says  : — the  text-  for 
the  angels  now  being.  Let  all  the  Elohim  worship 
God,  and  the  definition  of  angels  being.  Making  his 
angels  spirits,  and  his  ministers  flames  of  fire.  But 
what  says  he  of  the  Son  ?  how  vastly  different  the 
text  which  introduces  the  first-begotten  into  the 
world  !  thus.  Thy  throne,  O  Elohim,  is  for  ever  and 
ever :  a  sceptre  of  righteonsJiess  is  the  sceptre  of  thy 
kingdom.  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness,  and  hated 
iniquity.  Therefore,  O  Elohim,  thy  Elohim  hath  an- 
ointed thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows. 
And  if  a  parallel  to  this  passage  is  made  from  the 
verses  of  another  psalm,  which  reads  thus,  Thou,  Eli 


Ii6  FIRST  CHAPTER 

[my  El],  in  the  beginning  didst  lay  the  foundation  of 
the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the  works  of  thine 
hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest;  and 
they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment,  and  as  a 
vesture  shall  thou  fold  theni  up,  and  they  shall  be 
changed ;  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall 
not  fail, — all  this  last  is  only  the  mighty  echo  from 
those  ages  that  lie  beyond  the  distant  line  of  crea- 
tion, of  that  s^me  address  that  introduces  the  first- 
begotten  into  the  world. 

To  which  of  the  angels  can  such  a  text  as  the  fol- 
lowing ever  be  applied  :  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand, 
until  I  make  thy  enemies  thy  footstool  ? 

Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 

execute  his  service,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  shall 

inherit  salvation  ? 

This  chapter  contains  just  seven  quotations  from  the 

old  Jewish  Scriptures :     four   of    them   are   adduced  as 

speaking  of  the  Messiah,   two  refer  to  the  angels,  and 

one  refers  to  God  the  Creator.     Let  the  critic  now  come 

forward  who  can  detect  any  unfairness  in  any  of  these 

quotations. 

The  first  quotation  of  Messianic  prophecy  is  taken  from 
the  second  Psalm,  and  it  is  in  perfect  accordance  with 
the  Septuagint  and  the  original  Hebrew.  Thou  art  my 
Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee.  The  hundred  and 
tenth  Psalm  is  one  of  identical  import  with  this  second 
Psalm :  both  celebrate  the  King  whose  throne  is  established 
on  Mount  Zion  with  all  the  firmness  of  a  celestial  and 
eternal  decree,  whose  enemies  may  rage  but  they  must 
come  down  to  the  place  of  his  footstool,  and  into  whose 
presence  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  ought  to  come  with 
humility  and  trembling,  that  they  may  have  the  privilege 
of  serving  him  with  gladness.     The  mountains  of  the 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


117 


dead  will  lie  on  each  side  of  his  conquering  chariot,  and 
as  he  marches  forward  in  his  straight  course  the  brook 
rolls  its  water  along  at  his  feet,  of  which  he  drinks  and 
is  refreshed.  If  the  question  is  asked  how  the  Seventy 
understood  the  latter  half  of  this  text,  "Thou  art  my 
Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  the  best  answer  is 
furnished  by  the  following  phrase  of  the  Septuagint  in 
the  hundred  and  tenth  Psalm  :  ^x  yaoTpb^  npd  '^Ewafopuu 
EysvvTjaa  ffs,  "From  the  womb,  before  the  morning  star, 
I  have  begotten  thee."  They  evidently  read  the  Hebrew 
words  just  as  they  are  now  found:  "From  the  womb 
of  the  morning  there  is  to  thee  the  dew  of  thy  youth;" 
and  they  understood  the  phrase  /ro/n  the  womb  of  the 
morning  as  meaning  earlier  than  the  womb  of  the  first 
morning,  as  designating  some  point  in  time  further  back 
than  that  womb  from  which  the  morning  of  the  world 
has  come  forth;  and  they  decided  "the  dew  of  thy  youth" 
to  be  equivalent  to  "thy  nativity,"  "thy  generation," 
"thy  origin,"  "thy  true  sonship."  They  expressed  their 
singular  and  profound  interpretation  in  this  language : 
From  that  womb  which  existed  earlier  than  the  fiat  in 
the  first  day  of  creation,  "Let  there  be  light,"  from 
that  womb  which  was  before  the  first  morning  of  the 
world  and  the  first  early  dawn  in  all  time,  from  that 
womb  which  existed  before  the  first  bright  son  of  the 
morning  was  born,  I,  says  God,  have  made  thee  my  own 
Son.  Such  sonship  as  this  cannot  be  any  other  than  a 
sonship,  a  nativity,  an  origin,  more  ancient  than  creation 
itself.  This  Son  of  God  is  more  ancient  than  the  oldest 
of  all  the  sons  of  the  morning.  Such  is  the  mysterious 
doctrine  contained  in  this  verse  of  the  Septuagint ;  and 
the  Septuagint  was  in  existence  centuries  before  Jesus  was 
born,  and  came  from  the  hands  of  the  most  learned  and 
pious  Jews.      A  Divine  sonship,  more  ancient  than  the 


Il8  FIRST  CHAPTER 

morning  star,  is  not  an  idea  th«it  first  originated  in  con- 
nection with  tlie  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth :  it  was 
found  by  the  Jews  themselves  in  the  hundred  and  tenth 
Psalm,  centuries  before  Jesus  was  born,  and  expressly 
embodied  in  their  most  holy  translation.  And  when  the 
expression  in  the  second  Psalm,  "  Thou  art  my  Son,  this 
day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  was  first  transferred  into 
the  Septuagint,  they  could  consistently  say  that  this  day 
might  be  any  present  day  or  present  moment  from  the 
first  day  of  the  world  till  the  last  day,  or  it  might  be  a 
day  earlier  than  the  first  dawn  of  the  first  morning  star, 
or  even  earlier  than  that  womb  that  gave  the  world  the 
oldest  of  the  sons  of  the  morning.  The  perfect  conform- 
ity of  the  Septuagint  at  this  point  with  the  most  orthodox 
trinitarian  doctrine  in  relation  to  the  eternal  Divine 
sonship  of  the  Messiah  is  admirable. 

This  is  one  proof  that  the  Septuagint  found  the  Messiah 
in  the  second  Psalm ;  and  another  evidence  is  that  this 
very  word  Christ,  the  Greek  word  itself,  is  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  psalm.  "The  princes  are  combined  together 
against  the  Lord  and  against  his  Christ. -^^  mark  this  last 
as  the  very  word  in  the  Septuagint.  God  himself  declares 
that  he  has  made  this  Christ,  this  anointed  one,  or,  which 
is  the  same  thing,  this  Messiah,  his  own  King  upon  his 
holy  hill  of  Zion.  The  Divine  decree,  the  dogma,  the 
sentence  irreversible,  is  sent  forth  in  the  faces  of  opposing 
kings  and  counselors;  it  is  the  word  of  the  Lord,  "Thou 
art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee."  This  Son 
of  God  is  appointed  heir;  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
may  be  reproducing  this  very  passage  in  the  expression 
"whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things."  What  is 
the  inheritance  to  which  his  glorious  sonship  entitles  him? 
Hear  the  answer  as  it  issues  from  the  eternal  throne : 
"Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine 


OF   THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS. 


119 


inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy 
possession."  What  blindness,  what  desperate  madness, 
it  is  in  kings  and  princes  to  attempt  to  deprive  Him  of 
the  world,  who  hath  been  appointed  heir  of  all  things  ! 
The  kings  have  set  themselves  against  the  Lord, — let 
them  now  read  their  duty  in  this  verse  :  ' '  Serve  die  Lord 
with  fear,  and  rejoice  with  trembling."  They  have  set 
themselves  against  the  Lord's  Christ, — let  them  now  read 
their  duty  in  this  verse  :  "  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be  angry, 
and  ye  perish  from  the  way  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but 
a  little.  Blessed  are  all  they  that  put  their  trust  in  him." 
Not  one  shadow  of  doubt  ought  to  rest  on  this  psalm  that 
it  is  originally  and  thoroughly  Messianic,  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  assigned  to  its  true  place,  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews. 

The  Alexandrian  Jews,  and  indeed  Jews  throughout 
the  world,  held  the  Septuagint  in  very  high  estimation  as 
a  holy  book,  and  there  cannot  be  any  better  authority 
than  it  to  prove  that  there  was  among  the  Jews,  in  the 
centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  a  belief  in  a  Son  of 
God,  whose  sonship  was  older  than  that  womb  in  which 
the  morning  star  originated.  The  Talmud  did  not  begin 
to  be  written  until  some  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  had 
passed  away,  and  hence  it  cannot  teach  the  oldest  genuine 
Jewish  theology  with  that  clear  voice  which  the  SejDtua- 
gint  has :  still  the  Talmud  itself  adds  its  testimony  that 
the  second  Psalm  should  be  interpreted  as  a  prophecy  of 
the  time  of  the  Messiah. 

The  distinguished  rabbi  Rashi  drops  a  remark  on  the 
twenty-first  Psalm,  which  may  be  a  key  to  the  modern 
rabbinical  interpretation  of  more  psalms  than  one.  He 
says,  "Our  rabbis  have  interpreted  it  concerning  the 
King  the  Messiah,  and  it  is  a  correct  thing  to  interpret  it 
still  concerning  David  himself,  for  an  answer  to  the  Chris- 


I20  FIRST  CHAPTER 

tians."*  Those  who  made  the  first  attempt  to  confine 
the  second  Psalm  to  David  himself  and  exclude  the  Mes- 
siah from  it  very  probably  felt  this  need  of  some  answer 
with  which  they  might  meet  the  Minin, — that  is,  Chris- 
tians. 

The  second  quotation  which  is  applied  to  the  Messiah 
is  found  in  2  Sam.  vii.  14:  I  will  be  to  him  a  father,  and 
he  shall  be  to  me  a  son :  which  is  an  accurate  rendering 
of  the  original  Hebrew,  word  for  word.  But  here  the 
question  arises  how  this  passage  can  be  applied  to  the 
Messiah,  when  it  is  so  clear  that  it  was  spoken  concerning 
Solomon.  David  had  cherished  the  holy  purpose  to  build 
a  temple  for  the  Lord.  The  answer  was  sent  to  him  that 
he  should  not  be  permitted  to  build  it,  but  that  he  should 
have  yet  another  son,  and  this  son  should  build  the  tem- 
ple, he  should  be  a  special  favorite  of  Heaven,  God  should 
be  to  him  a  father,  and  he  should  be  the  son  of  God ; 
his  errors  might  bring  on  him  his  Father's  heavy  chas- 
tisement, but  the  mercy  of  God  should  never  forsake  his 
house  as  Saul  the  king  had  been  forsaken.  The  throne 
of  this  seed  of  David  was  to  be  established  forever. 
Three  times  it  is  promised  unconditionally  that  this 
throne  of  the  family  of  David  should  stand  forever;  and 

nniflS  la-in   poji   n^ccn  ^Sd  bv  innno   imi3-\  qSn  pdbo  ^r3;^  • 

Or,  in  a  more  full  translation,  "  The  king  shall  joy  in  thy  strength. 
(Ps.  xxi.  I.)  Our  rabbis  have  interpreted  it  concerning  the  King  the 
Messiah,  and  it  is  a  correct  thing  to  interpret  it  still  concerning  David 
himself,  for  an  answer  to  the  Christians,  who  take  it  for  granted  concern- 
ing him  that  he  composed  this  Psalm  after  he  had  taken  Bath-sheba." 
Rashi  appears  to  have  understood  Christians  as  arguing  that  this  rap- 
turous joy  of  the  king  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  after  David  had  done  the 
wrong  to  Bath-sheba  and  brought  the  sentence  on  himself  that  the  sword 
should  never  depart  from  his  house,  could  not  have  been  David's  own 
joy,  but  the  joy  of  his  son  the  Messiah. 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS.       121 

in  the  bosom  of  these  promises  of  unfading  perpetuity  lies 
this  declaration,  that  God  should  be  the  Father  of  this 
future  son  of  David,  and  he  should  bear  the  title  Son  of 
God,  as  if  the  perpetuity  of  the  throne  has  this  Divine 
relation  for  its  basis  and  security.  Blindness  itself  ought 
to  see  that  there  is  no  eternity  in  the  throne  of  David 
except  that  Avhich  the  Messiah  gives  it.  Separate  the 
Messiah  from  the  sons  of  David,  and  what  kind  of  a 
throne  have  they?  It  is  a  throne  that  might  perish,  a 
throne  that  has  actually  perished,  a  throne  that  has  fallen 
down  long  since,  never  to  rise  again  in  the  world.  The 
throne  of  Solomon  has  no  marked  power  in  the  world 
now,  except  that  power  which  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth gives  it ;  and  if  it  is  completely  separated  from  this 
name  it  has  just  as  certainly  perished  from  the  earth  as 
has  the  throne  of  Augustus  Csesar  or  the  kingdom  of  Saul. 
If  the  Messiah  is  shut  out  from  the  sons  of  David,  they 
have  no  better  right  to  hope  for  a  restoration  of  their 
throne  than  the  Asmoneans  have  to  hope  that  their 
restored  dominion  will  again  dazzle  the  world.  Solomon 
lives  at  the  present  moment  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
has  an  amazing  power  over  millions  of  hearts ;  but  without 
this  name  the  whole  of  Solomon  is  as  certainly  sleeping 
among  the  dead  as  is  Cyrus  the  Persian.  The  whole  of 
Solomon  is  only  the  shady  side  of  the  Son  of  God ;  the 
Messiah  is  the  other  side,  where  the  true  light  shines  and 
proves  itself  the  eternal  light. 

An  enigmatical  saying  is  found  among  the  sages  of 
Israel,  recorded  in  the  best  commentaries,  that  when 
Moses,  within  the  rock  of  Horeb,  saw  the  Lord  himself, — 
not  the  face  of  the  Lord,  for  this  vision  he  could  not  bear, 
but  the  back  parts  of  the  Lord, — it  was  the  knot  of  the 
phylacteries  or  tephillin  on  the  back  of  the  head  that  he 
saw.     How  could  this  knot,  laid  on  the  back  of  the  head, 

F  II 


122  FIRST  CHAPTER 

be  the  back  parts  of  the  Lord  ?  The  question  is  involved 
in  dark  mystery ;  yet  if  Aben  Ezra  furnishes  any  key  to 
this  question,  it  appears  to  be  this :  that  mankind  stand 
at  the  head  of  our  world,  nearest  to  God  \  that  the  head 
of  mankind  is  Israel ;  that  this  peculiar  people  rise  into 
the  closest  contact  with  the  celestial  and  imperishable 
powers;  that  the  grandest  vision  of  Moses  reached  no 
further  than  the  intimate  and  glorious  relation  between 
Israel  and  Israel's  God  ;  and  that  this  people  really  exist 
as  the  back  parts  of  God  himself,  being  the  production 
of  his  hands  which  he  has  left  behind  him,  the  closest  to 
himself  and  the  most  like  himself;  and  because  he  has 
clothed  them  with  the  most  holy  priesthood,  has  given 
them  the  greatest  power  in  intercession  with  himself,  has 
admitted  their  prayer  as  most  acceptable,  and  has  laid 
his  own  crown  on  their  head.  The  question  instantly 
rises  in  the  mind  of  a  Christian,  How  can  such  glory  be 
attributed  to  Israel,  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  be  shut  out 
from  it  completely?  How  could  such  men  as  Moses, 
Aaron,  David,  and  Solomon,  all  of  them  guilty  in  the 
sight  of  God,  and  thousands  of  others,  with  no  one  among 
them  free  from  sin,  claim  such  dignity  as  to  constitute 
the  very  back  parts  of  God  himself,  while  the  only  Jew 
that  ever  lived  perfectly  holy,  perfectly  undefiled,  per- 
fectly free  from  every  imputation  of  personal  sin,  is  not 
counted  among  them?  This  is  adduced  here  to  illustrate 
the  strange  blindness  of  that  prejudice  that  would  allow 
the  title  of  Son  of  God  to  be  conferred  on  the  seed  of 
David  and  then  shut  out  the  Messiah  from  this  title.  He 
is  the  only  one  of  all  in  whom  the  ideal  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  perfectly  realized.  Such  sonship  has  only  its 
perishable  body  in  the  other  sons  of  David,  but  it  has  its 
imperishable  soul,  its  inextinguishable  blaze,  in  the  Mes- 
siah.    If  a  crown  of  everlasting  dominion  falls  to  the 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


123 


sons  of  David,  it  must  go  directly  to  the  head  of  that  one 
Son  who  is  the  head  above  all  the  other  sons. 

Such  a  complex  person  appears  very  early  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. When  God  pronounced  the  curse  on  the  serpent 
in  the  garden  of  Eden,  some  part  fell  on  the  serpent  as 
an  animal,  but  assuredly  the  essential  and  weighty  part 
of  the  malediction  fell  on  that  lying  spirit  which  could 
not  be  an  animal.  A  mark  of  degradation  might  fall  on 
the  animal  because  it  had  been  made  the  instrument  of 
the  lying  spirit ;  but  it  was  not  the  animal  that  spoke 
against  God,  and  averred  that  God  had  been  deceiving 
man,  and  that  death  should  not  follow  disobedience ; 
because  in  the  very  nature  of  things  the  first  idea  of  the 
infinite  and  eternal  God  never  enters  the  thinking  facul- 
ties of  any  animal.  God  would  not  lay  all  the  curse  on 
the  innocent  animal :  he  would  have  the  heavier  part  of 
the  curse  fall  where  the  real  guilt  was,  and  this  was  in  the 
invisible  lying  spirit.  The  seed  of  David  became  a  simi- 
lar complex  person  in  the  prophecies ;  and  the  promise 
of  an  everlasting  kingdom  might  bring  an  outward  dress 
and  loose  appendages  for  many  kings  of  David's  line,  but 
the  Messiah  himself  was  the  centre  and  the  essence,  he 
was  the  truth  and  the  life  ;  and  when  God  said,  "  He  shall 
be  to  me  a  Son,"  this  meant  the  yi^%'iAz\\ pre-eminently,  if 
it  cannot  be  said  the  Messiah  exclusively. 

The  third  quotation  adduced  here  as  containing  a 
picture  of  the  Messiah  is  found  in  Psalm  xlv.  6,  7 ; 
and  it  is  transcribed  accurately  from  the  Septuagint :  Thy 
th?'one,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever;  a  sceptre  of  right- 
eousness is  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom.  Thou  hast  loved 
righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity :  therefore  God,  even  thy 
God,  hath  anointed  thee  witii  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy 
fellows.  No  translation  of  this  passage  has  ever  been 
given  more  accurate  than  this  from  the  Septuagint.     Aben 


124  FIRST   CHAPTER 

Ezra  proposes  a  variation  from  it,  and  prefers  to  read, 
"  Thy  throne  is  the  throne  of  God  for  ever  and  ever  ;" 
but  such  a  duplication  of  the  word  throne  is  gratuitous, 
and  in  every  way  the  closer  adherence  of  the  Septuagint 
to  the  original  Hebrew  appears  preferable.  He  who  sits 
on  the  throne  is  accordingly  called  by  the  single  name 
Elohiin,  or  God.  Here  is  the  eternal  throne  ;  Elohiin  sits 
on  it ;  but  this  Elohim  has  another  Elohim  to  whom  he 
stands  in  the  closest  relation,  and  the  other  Elohim 
anoints  him  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows. 
This  might  become  a  difficulty  in  the  mind  of  a  Unita- 
rian, and  Aben  Ezra  may  have  been  influenced  by  this 
difficulty  when  he  preferred  to  construe  the  words,  "Thy 
throne  is  the  throne  of  God,"  because  he  noticed  par- 
ticularly that  the  occupant  of  the  throne  is  under  the 
EloJiim  who  anoints  him  with  the  oil  of  gladness.  Never- 
theless,.  clearly,  according  to  the  Septuagint  and  the 
Hebrew  itself,  if  its  words  are  not  increased  in  number, 
Elohim  sits  on  the  throne  and  another  EloJiim  anoints 
him. 

This  anointed  king  is  taken  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  to  be  the  Messiah.  Is  this  correct?  The  Sep- 
tuagint places  at  the  head  of  the  psalm  the  title,  "A  Song 
concerning  the  Beloved."  The  Hebrew  calls  it  "The 
Song  of  Loves."  The  Septuagint  substitutes  the  person, 
the  Beloved,  in  the  place  of  the  abstraction.  No  term 
could  have  pointed  more  directly  forward  to  the  Messiah 
than  this  term,  the  Beloved.  It  indicated  that  here  is  the 
Beloved  of  the  Song  of  Songs,  the  Shekinah,  the  Beloved 
of  the  Lord.  All  Christian  hymns,  so  far  as  they  are  hymns 
in  the  proper  original  sense  of  the  term, — namely,  mar- 
riage-songs,— having  for  their  theme  the  Lambjthe  great  day 
of  his  marriage,  the  table  that  will  then  be  furnished,  and 
the  universal  joy  and  gorgeous  disj)lay  in  which  the  Lamb's 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS.       125 

bride  will  be  brought  to  him,  have  their  origin  from  this 
Beloved,  and  they  all  have  grown  from  the  seed  which 
lies  in  this  nuptial  psalm.  The  Targum  comes  next  after 
the  Septuagint  to  testify  that  this  is  the  Messiah's  psalm. 
Where  the  words  occur,  "Thou  art  fairer  than  the  chil- 
dren of  men,"  the  Targum  expands  the  language,  "Thy 
beauty,  O  King  Messiah,  is  superior  to  the  sons  of  men  : 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  is  imparted  to  thy  lips,  therefore 
Jehovah  has  so  blessed  thee  forever."  The  King  rides 
forth  gloriously,  carrying  forward  his  conquests  in  the  name 
of  meekness,  truth,  and  righteousness.  The  daughters  of 
kings  come  from  distant  nations  to  the  wedding,  and 
glittering  gifts  are  in  their  hands.  But  behold  the  bride 
herself!  What  is  the  right  word  to  be  spoken  to  her  on 
this  great  day?  "Hearken,  O  daughter,  and  consider, 
and  incline  thine  ear ;  forget  also  thine  own  people  and 
thy  father's  house;  so  shall  the  King  greatly  desire  thy 
beauty:  for  he  is  thy  Lord;  and  worship  thou  him." 
Let  heathen  altars  smoke  no  more.  Let  human  blood  no 
longer  be  consumed  on  altars  in  the  worship  of  idols.  Let 
the  church  of  Israel  adore  her  King.  An  answer  comes 
wafted  on  the  fragrant  breezes  from  yonder  distant  tribes, — 

"  The  dearest  idol  I  have  known, 
Whate'er  that  idol  be, 
Help  me  to  tear  it  from  thy  throne 
And  worship  only  thee." 

Blessed  forever  be  the  memory  of  this  day  !  A  flag  is 
unfurled  in  the  heavens  for  this  King,  the  church's  Lord, 
and  on  it  are  written  the  words,  "  I  will  make  thy  name 
to  be  remembered  in  all  generations:  therefore  shall  the 
people  praise  thee  for  ever  and  ever."  The  whole  psalm 
glows  with  the  most  distinctive  and  brilliant  Messianic 
colors. 

The  fourth  quotation  of  a  passage  concerning  the  Mes- 
II* 


X26  FIRST  CHAPTER 

siah  is  found  in  the  hundred  and  tenth  Psahii :  The  Lord 
said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  on  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thine 
enemies  thy  footstool ;' '  and  its  accuracy  cannot  be  doubted. 
This  psahn  has  produced  the  great  question,  Who  was 
David's  Lord?  or,  How  could  David  call  the  Messiah  his 
Lord,  when  he  was  to  be  his  son  ?  The  King  appears 
here  in  very  much  the  same  dress  and  decorations  which 
he  has  in  the  second  Psalm  and  in  the  forty-fifth :  he  is 
the  Lord  who  is  placed  on  his  throne  by  another  Lord ; 
the  sword  of  his  power  goes  forth  from  Zion,  and  the 
mighty  hosts  of  his  enemies  fall  before  him;  but  there  is 
the  singular  and  impressive  feature  here  that  he  is  consti- 
tuted a  priest  by  the  oath  of  the  Lord,  a  priest  forever 
after  the  order  of  Melchizedek.  No  one  can  answer  to 
this  combination  of  the  characters  of  Lord,  Conqueror, 
and  Undying  Priest,  except  the  Messiah.  Rashi  tries  to 
apply  the  whole  psalm  to  Abraham,  but  he  makes  a  most 
wretched  interpretation;  and  Aben  Ezra  succeeds  no  bet- 
ter, who  takes  David  to  be  the  hero  of  the  psalm,  and 
tries  to  find  the  oath  verified  in  David's  family  that  he 
should  be  a  priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek  ; 
and  if  any  one  needs  to  be  convinced  that  there  is  no 
possible  interpretation  of  this  psalm  with  any  appear- 
ance of  truth  and  consistency  except  as  a  Messianic 
prophecy,  it  ought  to  be  enough  just  to  see  what  a  bad 
failure  these  two  learned  Jews  have  made. 

The  two  quotations,  as  furnishing  pictures  of  the  truth 
concerning  angels,  come  next  in  order.  The  first  is 
traced  to  Psalm  xcvii.  7  ;*  the  second  to  Psalm  civ.  4. 
The  first  is  in  the  original  Hebrew,  Worship  him,  all  ye 
Elohim,  which  is  a  call  to  all  the  Elohim  to  worship  God  ; 

*  Hebrew,  a^nSx-So  iS-linna'n  Septuagint,  Ilpoa/cvw/aare  avr^ 
nuvreg  ujyeTioi  avrov.  Epistle,  Kal  njMaKvvjjauTucav  avrc^  Travref 
uyyeXoi  Qeov. 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS.        127 

in  the  Septuagint  it  is,  Worship  him,  all  ye  his  angels ; 
and  in  this  epistle  it  is  reproduced  from  the  Septuagint 
with  a  very  slight  grammatical  variation,  Let  all  the  angels 
of  God  worship  him.  The  call  is  to  worship  God,  and 
the  original  passage  does  not  appear  to  enjoin  any  specific 
and  distinct  worship  of  the  Son  of  God.  A  mistake  at 
this  point  has  had  an  unhappy  effect  in  obscuring  the 
argument.  Some  have  traced  this  quotation  to  the  thirty- 
second  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  according  to  the  Septua- 
gint ;  but  two  arguments  appear  to  prove  that  this  is  a 
mistake :  the  first  is  that  the  phrase  And  let-all  the  angels 
of  God  worship  Him  is  there  in  the  Septuagint,  but  the 
Hebrew  has  no  such  language  from  which  it  could  be 
translated ;  and  the  second  iis  that,  according  to  Bleek, 
the  epistle  always  quotes  from  the  Alexandrian  Codex  of 
the  Septuagint,  but  in  this  Codex  it  is  not  angels,  but  sons  : 
Let  all  the  sohs  of  God  worship  him.  The  quotation, 
therefore,  appears  to  be  from  the  psalm ;  and  as  to  the 
other  quotation  from  a  psalm,  it  renders  the  words  of  the 
Hebrew  Exactly  and  in  the  same  order. 

These  two  quotations  are  subordinate  and  illustrative 
parts  of  the  argument  which  has  its  essence  and  strength 
in  the  quotation  from  the  forty-fifth  Psalm.  The  Beloved, 
the  first-begotten  of  God,  the  Messiah,  will  now  be 
brought  forward  before  the  world  ;  the  forty-fifth  Psalm 
will  bring  him  forward,  and  he  will  appear  on  the  throne 
bearing  the  Divine  name  Elohim.  But  the  angels  also 
have  the  nanie  Elohim,  and  where  must  they  now  stand  ? 
Ah  !  they  do  not  stand,  but  away  yonder  they  bow  and 
foil  down  in  adoring  worship ;  they  are  the  Elohim  all 
of  whom  must  fall  down. before  the  throne;  their  most 
sublime  service  is  the  worship  of  God  ;  and,  covering  their 
faces  with  their  wings,  with  all  the  immortal  dignity  of 
their  nature  they  are  compelled  to  stand  away  at  a  dis- 


128  MRST  CHAPTER 

tance  from  the  brilliant  face  of  the  throne ;  their  place  is 
among  the  mighty  things  of  God's  creation  ;  they  lay 
their  hands  on  the  mighty  wheels  of  this  great  world  and 
move  them ;  they  travel  on  the  winds,  hold  the  lightnings 
in  their  hands,  and  mount  up  in  chariots  of  fire ;  but 
now  the  glorious  moment  has  come,  the  eternal  throne 
breaks  on  the  view,  and  the  Messiah  is  the  Elohim  sitting 
on  it,  and  all  the  world  rings  with  the  shout,  "Thy  throne, 
O  Elohim,  is  for  ever  and  ever  :  a  sceptre  of  righteousness 
is  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom."  He  is  the  Elohim  before 
whose  brilliant  throne  all  the  glory  of  the  angelic  Elohim 
instantly  vanishes  away.  He  has  loved  righteousness,  and 
hated  iniquity ;  but  this  cannot  be  said  of  all  the  other 
Elohim,  because  there  were  angels  that  fell  from  their 
first  estate  of  righteousness.  He  is  anointed  with  the  oil 
of  gladness  above  his  fellows,  above  all  his  fellows,  so  that 
he  stands  infinitely  higher  than  all  that  are  sharers 
with  him  in  the  title  of  Elohim.  They  are  humble  wor- 
shipers at  a  great  distance  before  the  face  of  the  throne, 
but  he  himself  sits  on  the  throne.  » 

Four  quotations  set  forth  the  Messiah  ;  two,  the  angels  ; 
and  the  only  remaining  one  brings  forward  God  himself, 
which  is  very  accurately  transcribed  from  the  hundred 
and  second  Psalm  :  Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  earth  ;  and  the  heavens  are  the  works 
of  thine  hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest :  and 
they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment.  And  as  a  vesture 
shall  thou  fold  them  zi-p,  and  they  shall  be  changed :  but  thou 
art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail.  The  argument 
here  appears  to  be  that  what  has  just  been  said  of  the 
Messiah  can  hardly  be  excelled  by  anything  that  is  said 
of  God  himself.  This  quotation  is  an  appendage  to  the 
one  from  the  forty-fifth  Psalm,  and  it  appears  to  strengthen 
it  on  one  side,  as  the  two-quotations  concerning  the  angels 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


129 


Strengthen  it  on  the  other  side.  If  you  say  to  the  Messiah, 
"Thy  throne,  O  Elohim,  is  for  ever  and  ever,"  you  may 
as  well  say  of  him  what  is  said  of  God,  that  the  heavens 
shall  perish  and  the  earth  become  lost  in  darkness  before 
one  shadow  can  fall  on  the  brilliant  face  of  his  throne ; 
that  they  indeed  shall  pass  away,  for  they  will  become 
old  as  a  garment  and  be  rolled  up  and  laid  away  as  unfit 
for  use,  but  his  throne  is  for  ever  and  ever,  it  will  never 
become  old,  and  he  will  always  be  the  same,  sitting  on 
his  throne ;  his  years  will  never  fail.  His  throne  must 
never  be  counted  among  such  perishable  things  as  the 
heavens  and  the  earth.  The  highly  rhetorical  character 
of  the  epistle  is  the  thing  which  sets  this  last  quotation 
in  the  true  light.  The  dazzling  sparks  of  rhetoric  are 
constantly  flying  from  the  sounding  anvil  and  hammer  of 
this  epistle,  and  the  severe  tongs  of  logic  are  not  needed 
all  the  time.  Let  this  last  quotation  be  a  magnificent  re- 
flector, throwing  back  and  concentrating  the  light  that 
has  just  issued  from  the  face  of  the  Messiah's  throne.  Let 
it  be  the  vast  sounding  gallery  which  carries  the  words, 
"Thy  throne,  O  Messiah,  is  for  ever  and  ever,"  back 
among  the  distant  wonders  of  the  world's  creation,  and 
has  them  reverberate  there. 

In  this  last  quotation  the  Septuagint  has  the  word  Lord, 
"  Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the  foundation," 
where  the  only  word  answering  to  it  in  the  original  He^ 
brew  is  the  familiar  word  Eli,  or.  My  God.  How  inter- 
esting and  solemn  the  scenes  through  which  this  ancient 
word  Eli  has  passed  !  It  calls  to  our  remembrance  the 
patriarchs  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  because  El  was 
the  first  in  sacredness  among  the  names  by  which  they 
called  on  their  God,  and  it  was  more  familiarly  used  by 
them  than  in  later  ages.  The  son  of  sorrow  of  the  twenty- 
second  Psalm  begins  his  lamentation  thus:  "Eli,  Eli,  why 


ijo 


FIRST  CHAPTER 


hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  This  other  psahn,  now  under 
consideration,  is  the  prayer  of  the  afflicted  when  he  is 
overwhelmed  and  poureth  out  his  complaint  before  the 
Lord.  He,  too,  utters  the  cry  of  Eli.  He  prays,  Eli,  cut 
me  not  off  in  the  half  of  my  days ;  thy  years  are  throughout 
all  generations.  The  heavens  and  earth  appear  to  him, 
in  his  visions  of  death,  to  be  dying  and  passing  out  of 
sight  into  silent  darkness,  but  his  Eli  will  remain  forever 
the  same.  The  same  word  has  a  most  solemn  connection 
with  the  dying  breath  of  Jesus.  "  Eli,  Eli,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me?"  can  never  be  forgotten  among  Christians. 
All  the  readers  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  knew  that 
this  was  the  distressed  exclamation  of  their  Lord  in  his 
last  moments  on  the  cross.  And  just  here  behold  this 
promise,  that  the  throne  of  the  Messiah  should  be  for  ever 
and  ever,  and  that  he  should  be  anointed  by  his  Father 
with  the  oil  of  joy  above  his  fellows, — behold  this  promise 
brought  into  the  closest  contact  with  the  word  Eli,  which 
expressed  at  the  cross  a  world  of  sorrow,  and  which  has  so 
repeatedly  been  the  exclamation  of  sorrow.  Let  a  cheer- 
ing lamp  now  be  connected  with  this  word,  that  has 
passed  through  so  many  dark  valleys  of  unutterable  sor- 
row. Let  this  lamp  be  the  joy  which  was  set  before  Jesus 
when  he  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame.  Let  it 
be  the  light  that  shines  from  the  eternal  throne  of  the 
Messiah.  Let  that  oil  of  gladness  with  which  the  Messiah 
is  anointed  above  his  fellows  be  the  oil  that  supplies  this 
light.  It  is  a  horrible  cloud  indeed  on  which  the  promised 
joy  and  glory  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom  do  not  throw  a 
silver  lining. 

The  seven  quotations  stand  in  their  respective  relations 
to  the  two  great  points  which  the  chapter  aims  to  prove : 
the  first  point  being  that  the  word  the  Son  of  God,  as 
a  title  of  the  Messiah,  has  an   excellence  which   it  has 


OF  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE  TlEBRElVS.        131 

not  when  the  angels  are  called  the  sons  of  God ;  and  the 
second  point  being  that  the  word  Eloliim,  as  applied  to 
the  Messiah,  has  an  excellence  which  it  has  not  when  it  is 
a  name  for  the  angels.  The  word  Lord,  in  the  English 
language,  is  a  designation  of  dignity  applied  to  many  per- 
sons, as,  for  instance,  the  lords  of  the  British  Parliament; 
but  it  has  also  its  specific  individual  meaning,  its  exclu- 
sive reference  to  the  Supreme  of  all  Lords,  as  when  we 
"call  upon  the  Lord"  in  prayer.  And  this  chapter  of 
Hebrews  sets  forth  the  name  Son  of  God  in  the  same 
light :  it  has  a  general  application  to  angels,  but  a  supreme 
and  exclusive  application  to  him  who  is  the  head  over  all 
the  other  sons  of  God.  The  word  Elohim  is  the  common 
name  for  God  through  the  Bible :  it  occurs  more  than 
thirty  times  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  indeed  is 
the  only  name  for  the  Creator  in  all  that  chapter.  It  is 
properly  of  the  plural  number;  and  the  ablest  Jewish 
scholars  of  distant  ages  explained  its  plurality  in  this  way, 
that  its  primitive  meaning  is  the  angels,  and  hence  comes 
its  plurality ;  and  that  it  has  been  transferred  to  the  one 
Deity,  the  invisible  supreme  Creator,  because  he  upholds 
and  governs  the  world  through  the  angels  and  reveals  his 
attributes  through  them.  The  name  of  his  instruments  or 
agents  has  become  the  name  of  himself.  A  language  is 
called  a  Up  in  Hebrew,  not  because  it  is  a  lip,  but  because 
it  issues  forth  through  the  lips  and  appears  first  to  meet 
the  senses  there;  or  it  is  a  tongue  in  Occidental  phrase- 
ology, as  when  we  mention  the  Greek  tongue,  the  English 
tongue,  because  it  has  taken  the  name  of  its  chief  instru- 
ment :  so  the  invisible  First  Cause  of  all  things  has  taken 
the  name  of  his  instruments,  the  angels,  because  he  stands 
forth  to  the  world  in  them  and  operates  through  them. 
Very  possibly  this  very  doctrine  was  taught  in  the  Jewish 
schools  of  Alexandria;   and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 


132 


FIRST  CHAPTER 


appears  to  have  been  especially  designed  for  Hebrews 
of  the  Alexandrian  school.  Suppose  an  opposer  comes 
forward  with  this  criticism,  that  if  the  Messiah  is  called 
Elohim  the  angels  have  the  same  name,  and  this  name 
itself  assigns  to  him  no  higher  place  than  one  among  the 
created  angels.  Here  is  the  answer :  that  Elohim  the 
name  of  the  Messiah  is  the  more  excellent  name,  and  all 
the  angels  fall  beneath  it.  He  is  Elohim  sitting  on  the 
throne  for  ever  and  ever,  and  anointed  with  the  oil  of 
gladness  above  all  his  fellows,  or  above  all  other  Elohim. 
If  ever  Elohim  is  the  strict  designation  of  only  one  person, 
and  is  plural  only  as  the  plural  of  majesty,  here  is  the 
instance,  and  here  the  word  shines  forth  in  supreme  Divine 
majesty.  This  Elohifn  on  the  throne  is  David's  Lord, 
to  wJiom  Jehovah  has  said,  "  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand, 
until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool;"  and  it  is 
added  immediately  afterwards  in  the  psalm  that  He 
whose  name  is  the  adorable  Ailo?iai,  the  Lord  at  his  right 
hand,  shall  strike  through  kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath. 
Here  is  majesty  the  most  sublime  and  the  most  terrible. 

The  Father  and  the  Son  are  the  chief  persons  in  the 
first  chapter;  and  upon  entering  the  second  chapter  we 
soon  meet  the  phrase  ''gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  which 
supplies  the  third  part  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  This  order 
.of  the  Trinity  may  be  called  the  baptismal  order,  because 
it  is  the  order  prescribed  for  Christian  baptism, — namely, 
the  Father  first,  the  Son  second,  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
last.  One  verse  lies  in  the  bosom  of  the  epistle  which 
contains  the  whole  Trinity,  but  in  a  different  order :  it  is 
chapter  ix.  14,  containing  this  Ian  uage,  "  the  blood  of 
Christ,  who  through  the  eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  with- 
out spot  to  God,"  which  places  the  eternal  Spirit  first. 
Himself  who  is  the  Son  second,  and  God  the  Father 
last.     This  may  be  named  the  tetragrammatic  order,  in 


OF   THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS. 


-^11 


contradistinction  from  the  baptismal  order,  on  the  suj^posi- 
tion  that  its  model  is  in  the  tetragrammaton ;  and  this  on 
the  theory  that  the  future  tense,  He  will  be,  is  the  first 
part  of  the  tetragrammaton,  the  present  tense  its  centre, 
and  the  past  tense  its  last  syllable,  and  that  the  three 
equal,  cognate,  coessential,  and  coeternal  names  corre 
spond  to  the  Christian  Trinity,  the  I-will-be-that-  f-will-be 
answering  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  new  and  central  Jeho- 
vah answering  to  the  Son,  and  the  Jah  answering  to  the 
Father.  So  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  may  be  set  down 
as  exhibiting  the  Trinity  in  both  orders,  the  baptismal 
and  the  tetragrammatic. 

Outside  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  this  tetragram- 
matic order  is  found  scattered  through  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  occupying  the  highest  places  of  honor.  It 
occurs  in  i  Cor.  xii.  4-6:  "Now  there  are  diversities  of 
gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit.  And  there  are  differences  of 
administrations,  but  the  same  Lord.  And  there  are 
diversities  of  operations,  but  it  is  the  same  God  which 
worketh  all  in  all."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  here  placed  first, 
the  Lord  Jesus  second,  and  God  working  all  in  all,  third 
and  last. 

The  same  Divine  order  prevails  in  Gal.  iv.  6:  "And 
because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his 
Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  It  is  highly 
probable  that  God  in  this  text  means  the  eternal  unity, 
the  uncreated  holy  essence,  without  any  reference  to  the 
Trinity  or  to  different  centres  of  internal  relations  or 
the  different  phases  through  which  the  unity  manifests 
itself,  just  as  we  suppose  the  word  Jehovah  to  have  been 
used  by  the  patriarchs  before  it  became  a  new  word  in 
the  time  of  Moses.  After  this  mention  of  God,  the 
tetragrammatic  order  comes  :  the  Spirit,  first ;  the  Son, 
second  ;  and  Abba,  Father,  third. 

12 


134 


FIRST  CHAPTER 


Still  more  singular  is  the  appearance  of  the  tetragram- 
matic  order  in  the  Revelation  of  John,  the  last  book  of 
the  New  Testament.  This  book  opens  with  an  analysis 
of  the  tetragrammaton  according  to  its  tenses,  "  Him 
which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come;"  and 
then  the  impressive  language  follows  immediately,  -'And 
from  the  seven  Spirits  which  are  before  his  throne ;  and 
from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness,  and  the 
first-begotten  of  the  dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings  of 
the  earth.  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from 
our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and 
priests  unto  God  and  his  Father."  Here  the  order  is 
observed  which  we  have  found  in  the  bosom  of  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews :  the  eternal  Spirit,  first ;  the  sin- 
atoning  Lamb,  second ;  and  God  the  Father,  third. 

There  is  a  most  singular  general  imprint  of  the  Trinity, 
according  to  this  order,  on  the  whole  face  of  the  first  ten 
chapters  of  this  book  of  Revelation.  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
mentioned  in  each  one  of  the  seven  letters  to  the  churches 
of  Asia,  and  he  claims  each  letter  as  his  own  message.  It 
is  in  the  message  to  the  church  of  Ephesus:  "He  that 
hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches."  The  same  thing  occurs  in  the  letter  to  the 
church  of  Smyrna:  "He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches;"  and  so  in 
the  letter  to  the  church  of  Pergamos:  "  He  that  hath  an 
ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 
The  same  thing  is  written  to  the  church  of  Thyatira;  the 
same  thing  to  the  church  of  Sardis ;  the  same  thing  to 
the  church  of  Philadelphia;  and,  finally,  to  the  church  of 
the  Laodiceans  the  same  thing  is  written,  and  therewith 
all  the  letters  close:  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches."  The  seal  of 
the   Spirit  is  thus  affixed  to  every  letter  in   precisely  the 


OF  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS.        135 

same  way.  The  next  scene  is  the  most  august  worship : 
the  throne  of  heaven  is  seen,  and  the  voices  *are  heard, 
"  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was, 
and  is,  and  is  to  come."  The  crowns  are  cast  before  the 
throne,  and  the  words  are  spoken  towards  it,  "Thou  art 
worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and  power  :  for 
thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are 
and  were  created."  This  great  word  Almighty  was  a  most 
sacred  and  usual  term  in  the  worship  of  the  patriarchs, 
but  Moses  nearly  banished  it  out  of  use.  The  voice  here 
is  like  the  voice  of  the  old  patriarchs ;  and  who  can  this 
be  on  the  throne  but  their  tetragrammaton  ?  A  more 
complicated  scene  immediately  follows,  and  here  the 
Lamb  occupies  the  front  space.  The  Almighty  on  the 
throne  holds  a  book  in  his  hand,  which  contains  a  record 
of  all  the  mighty  future,  and  especially  all  the  conflicts 
that  await  the  tribes  of  Israel  and  the  world  are  in  it ; 
and  it  is  sealed  with  seven  seals.  No  man  in  heaven  or 
on  earth  is  found  worthy  to  open  one  of  its  seals  or  even 
to  look  on  it.  Only  one  is  found  who  can  open  the 
book.  He  is  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  the  Root 
of  David.  He  is  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne. 
Now  the  new  song  rises:  "Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the 
book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain, 
and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  thy  blood  out  of  every 
kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation."  And  next 
the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of 
thousands,  raise  their  loud  voice:  "Worthy  is  the  Lamb 
that  was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom, 
and  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing;"  and 
every  creature  in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  appears  to  have  a  part  in 
the  song,  saying,  "  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 


136 


FIRST  CHAPTER 


unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever."  The  Lamb  then  pro- 
ceeds to  open  all  the  seals;  and  chapter  after  chapter  now 
gives  us  the  opening  of  the  seals.  Each  seal  breaks  as  the 
hand  of  the  Lamb  touches  it.  Finally  the  last  of  the 
seven  seals  appears  to  be  almost  finished.  The  last  of  the 
seven  trumpets  appears  to  be  the  only  one  still  remaining. 
That  mighty  angel  stands  with  one  foot  upon  the  sea  and 
the  other  upon  the  earth,  and  he  swears  "by  him  that 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  who  created  heaven,  and  the 
things  that  therein  are,  and  the  earth,  and  the  things  that 
therein  are,  and  the  sea,  and  the  things  which  are  therein;" 
and  this  great  oath  was  "that  there  should  be  time  no 
longer,  but  in  the  days  of  the  voice  of  the  seventh  angel, 
when  he  shall  begin  to  sound,  the  mystery  of  God  should 
be  finished,  as  he  hath  declared  to  his  servants  the  prophets." 
There  should  be  time  no  longer;  the  time  of  the  heavy 
judgments  of  God  on  a  guilty  world  should  soon  be 
closed  ;  or- the  meaning  may  be  that  the  time  of  the  end 
was  not  yet :  another  woe  must  come,  another  trumpet 
must  sound,  before  the  mystery  of  God  in  the  moral  and 
bloody  conflicts  of  our  world  is  perfectly  revealed.  The 
oath  of  this  angel  is  by  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  the 
reference  here  appears  to  be  directly  to  the  person  of  God 
the  Father.  The  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  takes 
the  book  at  its  beginning  and  opens  all  the  seals  ;  but  at 
the  finisliing  of  the  last  seal  the  angel's  oath  that  time 
must  now  close,  or  that  there  should  still  be  a  delay  before 
its  close,  was  by  Him  who  had  created  all  things,  the 
Eternal  Father.  The  ancient  oath  with  the  hand  on  the 
throne  of  Jah  is  here  reproduced.  This  oath  at  the  finish- 
ing up  of  the  warfare  of  the  church  of  God  in  this  world 
through  thousands  of  years  is  illustrated  by  that  oath  at 
the  beginning  of  the  wars  of  Moses, — the  oath  of  the  Lord 
raising  his  hand  to  heaven,  or  rather,  as  it  is  in  the  seven- 


OF  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS.        137 

teenth  chapter  of  Exodus,  with  the  hand  laid  on  the 
throne  of  Jah,  that  the  war  of  the  Lord  should  be  against 
Amalek  through  all  generations.  The  wondrous  book, 
with  its  seven  seals,  has  its  last  part  with  the  oath  in  the 
name  of  Jah.  Its  close  illustrates  that  adorable  name 
with  which  the  tetragrammaton  closes ;  while  the  Lamb 
is  by  the  book  at  the  opening  of  every  seal ;  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  appears  prominently,  before  any  seal  has 
been  touched,  in  the  letters  to  the  seven  churches. 

Or,  to  commence  again  with  the  Revelation  from  the 
beginning  :  first,  it  presents  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  epis- 
tles to  the  seven  churches  ;  secondly,  it  exhibits  the  Lamb 
at  the  opening  of  each  one  of  the  seven  seals ;  and  thirdly, 
Jah,  the  Creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  appears  in 
the  oath  that  gives  awful  solemnity  to  the'  last  of  the  seven 
seals  ;  and  then,  farther  on,  where  the  whole  Revelation  is 
approaching  its  close,  the  very  name  Jah  itself  is  brought 
forward ;  a  great  voice  of  much  people  in  heaven  is 
heard,  saying.  Alleluia,  Praise  Jah ;  and  a  second  time  the 
same  multitude  are  heard  chanting,  Alleluia,  Praise  Jah,  as 
they  witness  the  destruction  of  all  the  enemies  of  God,  and 
see  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascending  up  for  ever  and 
ever,  and  obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  vehement  flame  of  Jah 
beneath  that  rolling  smoke  ;  and  a  third  time  Alleluia, 
Praise  Jah,  is  chanted,  as  the  four-and-twenty  elders  and 
the  four  beasts  worship  Him  who  sits  on  the  throne  ; 
and  now  the  fourth  time  comes,  and  this  is  as  the  voice 
of  a  great  multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of  many  waters, 
and  as  the  voice  of  mighty  thunderings,  saying,  Alleluia, 
Praise  Jah,  "for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth." 
The  tetragrammatic  order  of  the  Trinity  is  inscribed  over 
the  face  of  the  Revelation  from  beginning  to  end. 

The  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  is  essentially  of 
the  trinitarian  complexion. 

12*  M.   R.  M. 


LETTER    VIII. 

Honored  Rabbi  :  — 

Allow  me  the  pleasure  of  calling  your  attention  to  an 
interesting  midrash  connected  with  i  Chron.  xxix.  23, 
where  occur  the  words,  "  And  Solomon  sat  on  the 
throne  of  Jehovah  for  a  king  instead  of  David  his 
father;  and  he  prospered."  The  word  throne  here,  in  the 
Hebrew,  has  all  its  letters ;  it  has  not  that  deficiency  of 
letters  which  the  term  throne  of  Jah  has  in  the  seven- 
teenth of  Exodus.  "Yes,"  says  the  midrash,  "the 
throne  of  the  Lord  in  the  reign  of  Solomon  became  the 
full  moon  :  there  were  just  fifteen  generations  from  Abra- 
ham to  Solomon,  and  these  correspond  to  the  first  fifteen 
days  of  a  Jewish  month,  which  always  bring  the  moon  to 
its  full  and  perfect  display  and  exhibit  it  with  the  same 
roundness  that  the  sun  has;  and  so  in  Solomon,  the  fif- 
teenth from  Abraham,  the  throne  became  the  perfect 
moon,  and  exhibited  the  same  complete  figure  in  the 
heavens  that  the  sun  has,  and  the  expression  was  seen 
verified  that  it  should  be  established  in  the  heavens  as  the 
sun."  Your  great  Rashi  amplifies  this  illustration:  he 
suggests,  if  this  comparison  with  the  moon  pleases  you, 
then  say  that  from  Solomon  the  moon  continued  to 
wane,  and  that  in  the  Babylonish  captivity,  when  the 
eyes  of  Zedekiah  were  put  out,  it  completely  lost  its 
light. 

We  may  suppose  that  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  also  had  an  imagination,  which  the  brilliantly 
T38 


•     THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     139 

rhetorical  character  of  the  epistle  appears  clearly  to  in- 
dicate, and  that  he  carried  in  his  memory  the  genera- 
tions counted  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew :  first,  the  generations  from  Abraham  to  Solo- 
mon, being,  as  has  just  been  stated,  fifteen  ;  secondly, 
the  fourteen  generations  from  David  to  the  captivity;  and 
thirdly,  the  fourteen  generations  from  the  captivity  to 
Christ.  Suppose  that  he  believed,  further,  that  the  world 
must  have  a  sun  as  well  as  a  moon,  and  that  a  moon 
rounded  at  the  middle  of  the  month  like  the  sun  will 
never  answer  as  a  substitute  for  the  sun ;  that,  even  if  it 
is  the  full  moon  at  tlie  fifteenth  of  the  month,  all  things 
are  still  only  dark  and  dismal  if  there  is  no  sun  existing 
in  the  world.  Then  the  illustration  may  be  expanded  so 
as  to  comprehend  still  higher  truths :  let  it  be  this  same 
full  moon  in  the  time  of  Solomon  the  fifteenth  from  . 
Abraham,  and  let  it  find  its  darkest  hour,  about  fourteen 
generations  afterwards,  in  the  Babylonish  captivity.  The 
illustration  need  not  stop  here.  The  next  fourteen  gen- 
erations are  the  first  fourteen  days  of  a  new  month,  and 
bring  the  moon  back  again  to  its  fullness.  The  glory  of 
the  Asmoneans  was  like  the  moon  again  restored  to  its 
fullness,  and  the  reign  of  Herod  the  Great  was  like  the 
first  hours  after  the  full  moon.  And  here  it  is  no  longer 
the  evening  that  calls  us  out  to  see  the  sun  disappearing 
and  the  full  moon  ascending,  but  this  is  the  morning, 
when  the  moon  is  just  going  down  and  the  sun  is  bril- 
liantly ascending.  The  throne  of  Jehovah  is  in  Jesus, 
like  the  sun  established  in  the  heavens  while  the  full 
moon  has  just  gone  down.  This  is  the  sun  that  gives  the 
everlasting  day.  It  would  not  be  wonderful  to  hear  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  speaking  of  a  Sun  of 
righteousness  that  should  arise  with  healing  in  his  wings. 
The  worlds  which  the  Almighty  has   created    generally 


I40  THE   EPISTLE    TO  THE   HEBREWS 

rejoice  in  a  sun  as  much  as  in  a  full  moon ;  and  if  the 
ancient  genuine  Judaism  had  its  full  moon  in  the  even- 
ing without  any  ascending  sun  in  the  morning,  it  was 
certainly  a  world  differing  widely  from  most  worlds 
which  have  issued  from  the  Creator's  hand.  Astronomy 
has  not  discovered  many  such  worlds.  The  largest  and 
most  perfect  picture  that  has  ever  yet  appeared  of  the 
sun  brilliantly  ascending  in  the  morning  while  the  full 
moon  has  just  fallen-  out  of  view  is  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews;  and  even  that  other  picture  in  the  Revelation, 
of  the  "woman  clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon 
under  her  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve 
stars,"  can  hardly  be  adjudged  more  beautiful. 

If  it  can  be  here  determined,  so  as  to  admit  of  no  fur- 
ther question,  what  is  the  precise  theological  import  of 
the  term  Son  of  God  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  a 
great  point  is  gained.  Two  places  in  the  epistle  can  be 
adduced  as  sufficient  to  settle  this  question  :  one  is  chap, 
iii.  5,  6,  "And  Moses  verily  was  faithful  in  all  his  house, 
as  a  servant,  for  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were 
to  be  spoken  after ;  but  Christ  as  a  son  over  his  own 
house;"  the  other  is  chap.  v.  8,  "Though  he  were  a 
Son,  yet  learned  he  obedience  by  the  things  which  he 
suffered."  The  difference  between  Moses  and  Christ,  in 
the  house  of  God,  is  that  the  former  is  the  servant,  the 
latter  is  the  Son.  The  servant  has  no  natural  right  to 
command  in  the  house ;  but  the  son  has  this  natural  right. 
The  servant  may  not  be  the  possessor  of  a  single  arti- 
cle in  all  the  house;  but  the  son  is  the  heir,  and  all 
things  belong  to  him  by  a  natural  right.  The  servant 
may  have  no  brother  or  sister  in  the  family,  he  may  have 
his  origin  in  a  foreign  family  and  belong  to  a  different 
race;  but  the  son  is  the  san\e  with  the  father  in  blood, 
flesh,  and  bone,  in  nature,  dignity,  and  name.     Christ  is 


THE   EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.    141 

the  Son,  having  a  natural  right  to  command  in  the  house, 
and  being  the  heir  of  all  things,  and  participating  in  the 
eternal  nature  and  the  absolute  underived  life  of  God ; 
while  Moses  is  only  the  honored  and  faithful  servant. 
Christ  learned  obedience  in  the  house ;  which  would  not 
have  been  wonderful  if  he  had  always  occupied  the  place 
of  a  servant  or  an  officer;  but  his  humiliating  obedience 
does  present  an  apparent  incongruity  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  he  is  God's  Son,  and  therefore  invested  by 
nature  with  his  Father's  dignity  and  name.  Moses  might 
have  been  called  to  an  office  transcendently  higher  than 
the  office  that  he  did  fill,  his  life  might  have  had  fewer 
dark  spots,  his  mission  might  have  been  vastly  more  suc- 
cessful, his  usefulness  might  have  been  doubled,  his  years 
might  have  been  protracted  to  double  their  number,  with  his 
usefulness  and  his  fame  spreading  more  and  more  in  every 
year  till  the  last  3  yet,  with  all  this^  he  would  have  been 
only  the  servant  in  the  house,  and  there  was  no  possibility 
of  his  rising  to  the  natural  dignity  of  the  Son.  He  might 
indeed  be  called  the  Son  by  a  bold  figure  of  speech  ;  but  it 
is  not  glittering  rhetoric  that  calls  Christ  the  Son  of  God. 
This  same  orthodox  view  of  the  Son  of  God  can  be 
traced  back  to  the  parables  of  Jesus,  and  particularly  to 
the  parable  belonging  to  the  last  week  of  his  life, — of  the 
faithless  husbandmen  to  whom  the  lord  commits  his  vine- 
yard, and  at  the  time  he  sends  servants  to  them  to  re- 
ceive the  fruits  of  the  vineyard  ;  but  they  beat  one,  and 
kill  another,  and  stone  another.  He  sends  other  servants, 
who  are  treated  in  the  same  way.  Lastly,  he  sends  his 
own  son,  saying  that  they  will  reverence  his  son.  They 
see  him  coming,  and  say,  "This  is  the  heir;  come,  let 
us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his  inheritance."  Their 
topmost  crime  is,  they  kill  the  son.  When  they  see  the 
son  coming,  they  know  that  that  is  no  servant,  but  he  is 


142  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS 

the  son  and  the  whole  vineyard  is  his.  The  distinction 
here  between  the  servants  sent  first  and  the  son  sent  last 
is  exactly  the  same  as  the  distinction  in  the  epistle 
between  Moses  as  the  servant  and  Christ  as  the  Son.  The 
term  Son  of  God  is  not  a  designation  of  ofhce  ;  the  dif- 
ference between  Moses  and  Jesus  was  not  the  difference 
between  a  lower  and  a  higher  office,  but,  both  in  the  para- 
bles of  Jesus  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  of  a  much 
later  date,  Jesus  appears  as  having  been  the  Son  of  God 
in  all  time,  and  no  office  ever  first  clothed  him  with  this 
title;  while  even  Moses,  whatever  may  be  the  dignity  of 
his  office,  never  rises  higher  than  a  servant,  and  cannot 
be  the  Son  of  God  in  the  original  and  proper  sense  of  the 
term.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  have  neither 
beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life  is  to  exhibit  a  likeness 
to  the  Son  of  God  (chap.  vii.  3). 

The  Holy  Ghost  appears  in  this  epistle  as  another 
Divine  person.  Remarkable  is  the  language  that  is  pre- 
fixed to  a  quotation  from  one  'of  the  Psalms:  "Where- 
fore as  the  Holy  Ghost  saith,  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  his 
voice,  harden  not  your  hearts;"  and  almost  the  same 
language  recurs  where  it  is  mentioned  how  the  high 
priest  entered  one  day  every  year  into  the  holy  of  holies, 
not  without  blood,  which  he  offered  for  himself  and  for 
the  errors  of  the  people, — "  The  Holy  Ghost  this  signify- 
ing, that  the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  was  not  yet  made 
manifest;"  and,  thirdly,  the  language  occurs,  "Whereof 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  a  witness  to  us,"  and  then  a  text  from 
the  prophet  Jeremiah  is  adduced  as  being  this  witness  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  All  the  quotations  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  in  this  epistle  are  taken  from  the  Septuagint, 
and  almost  without  exception  they  are  from  the  Alexan- 
drian Codex  of  the  Septuagint ;  and  they  are  uniformly 
introduced  as  the  language  of  the  Holy  Ghost.      Tlie 


THE   EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     143 

writer  must  have  shared  in  the  exalted  views  which  the 
Alexandrian  Jews  had  of  the  holiness  of  the  Septuagiint ; 
and  his  theory  of  the  Divine  inspiration  of  the  Hebrevv 
canon  must  have  been  of  a  high  order.  He  would  look 
through  those  chapters  from  the  pen  of  Moses  which 
describe  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  as  if  it  were 
written  at  the  head  of  each  chapter,  Thus  saith  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  would  open  the  book  at  Solomon's  Song, 
and  introduce  the  reading  of  a  verse :  Tlius  saith  the 
Holy  Ghost,  "  Come,  my  beloved,  let  us  go  forth  into 
the  field  ;  let  us  lodge  in  the  villages."  The  whole  Bible 
was  before  him  as  the  production  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and 
inasmuch  as  he  believed  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  the  speaker, 
or  the  first  person,  according  to  the  phraseology  of  gram- 
mar, through  all  the  Bible,  it  follows  that  the  Divine 
name  I-tvill  be-that-I-will-be  is  eminently  proper  as  the 
distinctive  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  because  this  name  is, 
in  its  essential  structure,  of  the  first  person,  and  should 
stand  always  for  the  speaker. 

Let  this  my  allusion  to  the  Holy  Ghost  here  pass, 
however,  as  being  only  incidental.  I  now  return  to  the 
doctrine  in  this  epistle  concerning  the  Son  of  Goti  as 
the  point  to  be  kept  prominent;  and  I  proceed  to  view 
the  whole  epistle  as  a  magnificent  arch,  consisting  of 
weighty  and  consistent  and  brilliant  rocks,  among  which 
this  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  God  is  the  keystone.  If  it 
falls,  the  whole  arch  falls  with  it;  and  if  the  arch  itself 
stands,  this  stone  continues  to  stand  in  it.  I  will  attempt 
to  prove  that  the  whole  epistle  is  the  true  and  sublime 
exponent  of  ancient  Judaism  ;  and  if  this  is  proved,  it 
follows  that  genuine  Judaism  cannot  be  properly  and 
fully  expounded  if  the  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  God  is  ex- 
cluded. I  will  pass  through  the  whole  epistle  from  point 
to  point  in  order. 


144  ^'-^-^   EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS 

Or,  to  exhibit  my  argument  in  a  different  light :  two 
texts  are  the  two  hinges  on  which  the  whole  epistle  turns: 
both  texts  are  in  the  Psalms ;  the  first  is  in  the  second 
Psalm,  "The  Lord  hath  said  unto  me.  Thou  art  my  Son; 
this  day  have  I  begotten  thee;"  the  second  is  in  the  hun- 
dred and  tenth  Psalm,  "The  Lord  hath  sworn,  and  will 
not  repent.  Thou  art  a  priest  forever  after  the  order  of 
Melchizedek;"and  if  the  first  hinge  is  broken,  the  second 
breaks  also ;  but  if  the  second  is  impregnable  and  sure, 
the  first  also  stands  firm.  I  hope  to  prove  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Messiah's  priesthood  in  this  epistle  is  a  re- 
liable hinge,  and  in  the  proof  of  this  there  is  equal  proof 
that  this  doctrine  of  the  Messiah's  Divine  Sonship  is  a 
sound  and  reliable  hinge. 

At  the  first  step  in  the  general  argument  which  now 
lies  before  me,  the  proficient  in  natural  science  must 
notice  the  verse  in  this  epistle  which  refers  to  the  account 
of  the  first  sabbath  in  the  beginning  of  the  Bible:  "  For 
he  spake  in  a  certain  place  of  the  seventh  day  on  this 
wise,  And  God  did  rest  the  seventh  day  from  all  his 
works."  A  holy  rest  was  thus  prepared  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  it  is  into  this  same  rest  that  the  people  of  God 
now  enter,  and  which  the  unbelieving  fail  to  secure.  If 
that  first  sabbath  of  the  Lord  is  the  real  heaven  which  is 
now  the  great  object  of  our  hope,  it  follows  that  it  could 
not  be  a  single  day  measured  by  one  revolution  of  the 
earth  on  her  axis.  And  if  the  seventh  day  stands  there 
for  an  immense  period,  the  preceding  days  may  have  the 
same  signification.  This  is  precisely  what  the  noblest 
sons  of  science  have  wished  to  find  in  the  Bible.  They 
cannot  believe  that  the  six  days  of  creation  were  days  of 
ordinary  length  like  the  present  day.  They  have  found 
wonderful  records  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth  testifying 
that   there   must   have  been  a  long   period  of  universal 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     145 

vegetation,  which  is  called  the  carboniferous  period, 
before  which  came  the  period  when  the  atmosphere,  with 
its  ascending  vapors  and  descending  rain,  was  brought 
into  order,  and  after  which  came  the  period  when  the 
sun  and  moon  first  reached  the  earth  with  their  light, 
marking  it  off  into  zones,  torrid,  temperate,  and  frigid. 
It  is  an  impressive  fact  that,  while  science  has  been  lately 
asserting  with  so  much  earnestness  that  the  first  six  days 
must  have  been  immense  periods,  the  same  interpretation 
of  the  seventh  day  has  been  lying  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  all  the  time. 

But  the  argument  on  the  sabbath  or  rest  which,  for  so 
long  a  time,  has  been  provided  for  those  who  trust  in  the 
Lord,  has  a  practical  interest  more  valuable  than  any 
connection  it  has  with  science.  The  true  rest  or  sabbath 
of  the  Lord  has  been  offered  to  men  in  all  ages.  The 
echo  of  the  ninety-fifth  Psalm  is  brought  to  our  ears  in 
this  epistle :  "  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden 
not  your  heart,  as  in  the  provocation,  and  as  in  the  day 
of  temptation  in  the  wilderness :  when  .  your  fathers 
tempted  me,  proved  me,  and  saw  my  work.  Forty  years 
long  was  I  grieved  with  this  generation,  and  said.  It  is  a 
people  that  do  err  in  their  heart,  and  they  have  not 
known  my  ways :  unto  whom  I  sware  in  my  wrath  that 
they  should  not  enter  into  my  rest."  It  is  David  that 
mentions  this  to-day,  centuries  after  the  people  had  found 
rest  in  the  land  of  Canaan  under  Joshua.  Does  David 
survey  all  the  tribes  happily  settled  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
and  then  speak  of  another  rest,  to  which  they  had  not  yet 
attained,  and  from  which  there  was  a  possibility  that  they 
might  be  cut  off,  as  their  fathers  had  been  cut  off  in  the 
wilderness?  and  does  he  this  very  day  cite  that  awful 
oath  of  the  Lord  that  the  people  in  the  wilderness  should 
not  enter  into  the  blessed  rest,  as  if  the  same  heavy  oath 


146  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 

is  now  not  very  distant,  and  may  fall  on  this  present 
people,  living  after  so  long  a  time,  though  they  are  now 
living  in  the  land  and  expect  never  to  leave  it  ?  Yes, 
there  was  a  holy  land  the  fruits  of  which  the  people  under 
the  eye  of  David  had  not  yet  tasted ;  there  was  a  rest 
which  they  had  not  yet  reached ;  and  now,  says  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews,  after  so  long  a  time  since  David 
lived,  there  is  still  a  promise  for  us,  inviting  us  to  ascend 
up  to  a  higher  rest.  The  terrors  of  that  oath  of  the  Lord 
that  was  uttered  in  the  wilderness  are  not  confined  to  any 
one  generation ;  but  David  read  it  as  a  warning  for  his 
generation,  and  we  must  now  read  it  as  our  warning. 
And  we  may  carry  our  eyes  over  all  ages  back  to  that  dis- 
tant day  when  God  himself  began  to  rest  after  the  work  of 
six  days,  and  in  all  this  long  time  there  has  been  a  Divine 
rest  offered  to  men,  and  there  has  been  a  danger  that  it 
might  be  offered  in  vain.  This  fatal  danger  of  the  soul !  what 
is  it?  It  is  unbelief.  It  has  always  been  unbelief.  Then 
"take  heed,  brethren,  lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil 
heart  of  unbelief,  in  departing  from  the  living  God"  (chap, 
iii.  12).  The  people  in  the  wilderness  could  not  trust  in  the 
promise  of  God,  and  hence  they  perished.  He  designed 
a  glorious  future  for  them,  but  they  longed  to  return  to 
their  past  life  in  Egypt.  He  called  them  to  go  forward 
and  ascend  upward,  forward,  to  the  holy  tabernacle,  to 
the  great  temple,  to  the  holy  land,  to  Mount  Zion ;  but 
their  natural  impulse  always  was  to  go  back  to  Egypt, 
where  they  could  not  have  the  tabernacle  of  the  I^ord. 
It  is  our  worst  mistake  to  have  all  our  visions  of  glory  in 
the  past,  and  to  cherish  no  higher  desire  than  to  see  that 
past  restored  to  us,  when  we  ought  to  be  marching  on  to 
that  new  thing  to  which  God  calls  us  in  the  future.  It  is 
those  who  live  away  back  in  the  past  that  will  be  com- 
pelled to  see  their  houses  wrapped  in  flames  over  them. 


THE  ,  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     147 

It  is  a  terrible  mistake  if  a  man  mistakes  the  age  in  which 
he  lives,  and  places  himself  back  with  those  who  have 
been  dead  a  thousand  years  or  more.  To  wish  to  have 
the  old  temple  of  Jerusalem  restored,  when  God  has  no 
further  need  of  it,  is  as  wrong  as  it  would  have  been  to 
Avish  it  demolished  in  those  times  when  it  was  a  useful  and 
holy  institution.  To  wish  ourselves  back  with  the  brazen 
altar,  the  golden  altar,  and  the  bleeding  lambs,  when 
God  has  called  us  away  from  them,  is  as  wrong  as  it  was 
in  the  cotemporaries  of  Moses  to  wish  themselves  back  in 
Egypt  when  God  had  called  them  out  of  it.  A  crazy  un- 
belief is  always  trying  to  send  the  present  age  back  into 
the  past.  It  stands  still  when  it  ought  to  march  forward ; 
it  looks  back  when  it  ought  to  look  into  the  future. 

Such  warnings,  showing  the  danger  of  unbelief  and 
how  deplorable  it  is  not  to  understand  the  age  in 
which  we  live  and  not  to  be  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
great  plans  of  God  for  the  progress  of  the  world,  form 
one  high  characteristic  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 

History  gives  Melchizedek  a  very  small  niche  in  an 
ancient  wall,  but  it  is  wonderful  how  much  has  been 
found  in  that  niche.  He  came  to  Abraham  with  bread 
and  wine  as  the  latter  was  returning  from  the  slaughter  of 
the  kings,  and,  as  a  priest,  blessed  him  in  the  name  of 
the  most  high  God ;  and  Abraham  gave  him  tithes  of 
all  that  he  possessed.  This  mysterious  priesthood  is 
mentioned  long  afterwards  in  one  of  the  Psalms.  One  is 
constituted  a  priest  by  an  oath,  though  neither  Aaron  nor 
any  of  his  successors  ever  became  a  priest  of  Israel  by  the 
oath  of  the  Lord  :  this  one  becomes  the  priest  by  the 
oath  of  the  Lord  :  "  The  Lord  hath  SAvorn,  and  will  not 
repent.  Thou  art  a  priest  forever  after  the  order  of  Mel- 
chizedek." Instantly,  at  the  touch  of  this  verse,  Mel- 
chizedek becomes  transparent,  and  a  greater  priest  is  seen 


148  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 

through  him  :  he  almost  disappears  in  the  person  of  the 
Messiah.  The  king  of  righteousness,  the  king  of  Salem 
which  is  peace,  the  priest  of  tlie  most  high  God,  a  priest 
without  any  sacerdotal  genealogy,  whose  father  is  not 
known  as  a  priest,  whose  mother  is  not  known  as  belong- 
ing to  a  holy  tribe,  who  stands  alone  without  any  suc- 
cessor as  well  as  without  any  predecessor,  whose  priest- 
hood appears  to  originate  with  himself  and  live  forever 
in  one  person,  who  shed  his  blessing  down  on  the  head 
of  Abraham,  and  to  whom  the  family  of  Aaron  may  be 
viewed  as  paying  tithes  through  their  great  ancestor, — 
all  these  are  signs  pointing  to  the  greater  priest,  the  Mes- 
siah, who  is  indeed  the  King  of  righteousness,  the  King 
of  peace,  and  who  is  the  only  priest  placed  by  the  oath 
of  the  Lord  in  the  order  of  Melchizedek  :  he  too  has 
neither  father  nor  mother  of  priestly  dignity,  he  has 
neither  predecessor  nor  successor  in  office,  he  is  not 
numbered  in  any  priestly  tribe,  his  priesthood  begins  in 
himself  and  eternally  lives  in  the  one  person,  and  his 
high  hand  holds  the  blessing  over  the  head  of  Aaron  and 
the  head  of  Abraham.  If  it  be  doubted  whether  all  this 
is  solid  theology,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  has  the 
radiant  beauty  of  poetry. 

As  to  Aaron  and  his  successors  as  high  priests,  there 
was  a  particular  day  in  every  year — the  great  day  of 
atonement — which  more  than  any  other  day  set  forth 
their  peculiar  and  holy  office  in  a  strong  light.  The  sin- 
offering  was  the  most  prominent  in  the  ritual  of  that  day. 
In  the  morning  the  high  priest  put  off  his  dress  for  ordi- 
nary service,  shining  with  gold,  and  clothed  himself 
entirely  in  the  vestments  of  white  and  pure  linen  which 
could  not  be  used  on  any  other  day.  He  selected  from 
his  own  property  a  bullock  to  be  the  sin-offering '^for 
himself  and  his  family,  and  a  ram  as  his  burnt-offering. 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     149 

The  sin-offering  for  the  whole  people  consisted  of  two 
goats,  which  were  brought  in  front  of  the  sanctuary,  and 
there  it  was  determined  by  lot  which  one  should  be  given 
to  the  Lord  and  which  should  be  the  scape-goat  to  be 
sent  to  the  wilderness.  The  high  priest  made  a  full 
confession  of  the  sins  of  himself  and  his  family  over  his 
bullock,  and  it  was  killed.  He  filled  a  censer  with  burn- 
ing coals  from  the  external  altar,  and  took  a  handful  of 
very  fine  incense ;  he  passed  within  the  veil  into  the  holy 
of  holies,  and  left  the  incense  on  the  coals  there,  to  fill 
the  room  with  a  cloud.  Soon  the  blood  of  the  bullock  was 
brought  into  that  cloud  which  was  now  enveloping  the  holy 
objects  there,  and  he  sprinkled  it  on  and  before  the  mercy- 
seat  seven  times.  This  mercy-seat  was  the  golden  lid  of 
the  ark  which  contained  the  writing  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, and  the  two  cherubim  stood  over  the  mercy- 
seat  with  expanded  wings.  The  rod  of  Aaron  that 
budded,  and  the  pot  of  manna,  were  deposited  in  that 
most  holy  chamber,  and  the  throne  of  the  God  of  Israel 
was  there  between  the  cherubim.  This  first  blood  was 
the  atonement  for  the  iniquities  of  the  priesthood.  The 
next  blood  was  brought  from  the  bleeding  goat,  which  was 
the  sin-off"ering  for  the  people.  It  likewise  was* sprinkled 
seven  times  by  the  priest's  finger  upwards  and  down- 
wards at  the  mercy-seat.  The  priest  then  returned  into 
the  sanctuary,  and  sprinkled  the  united  blood  of  his  own 
sin-offering  and  the  people's  sin-offering  seven  times  on 
the  holy  veil  between  the  holy  of  holies  and  the  sanc- 
tuary. Then  he  turned  to  the  golden  altar  in  the  sanc- 
tuary and  marked  its  horns  with  the  same  united  blood, 
and  sprinkled  over  it  seven  times.  It  was  the  rebellions 
against  the  government  of  God,  the  resistance  to  his 
grace,  the  transgressions,  the  iniquities,  and  the  unknown 
sins,  that  brought  the   holy  house  into  such   a  state  of 

13* 


15° 


THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 


moral  pollution  that  it  could  not  be  saved  except  by  the 
cleansing  power  of  blood ;  and,  first,  the  holy  of  holies 
had  its  sprinkling  of  blood  as  the  atonement;  secondly, 
the  sanctuary  was  cleansed  by  the  blood  sprinkled  on  the 
veil ;  thirdly,  the  atonement  for  the  golden  altar  was  the 
blood  laid  upon  it.  The  mercy-seat  and  cherubim  could 
not  continue  in  such  pollution  and  guilt  as  filled  the  land. 
The  throne  of  God  could  not  stay  there.  The  Shekinah 
could  not  dwell  in  the  religious  house  of  such  a  people. 
There  was  a  call  for  blood  in  all  parts,  to  cover  the  pol- 
lution and  guilt.  No  blood  ever  went  into  the  holy  of 
holies  except  this  blood  of  the  sin-offering;  and  this  proves 
the  supreme  importance  of  the  sin-offering  in  the  ritual  of 
Israel. 

To  kill  is  one  thing,  to  remove  what  has  been  killed 
is  another  thing.  To  cover  and  destroy  sin  in  blood  is 
one  thing,  to  remove  its  dead  body  away  out  of  sight  is 
another  thing ;  and  this  last  thing  was  done  by  means  of 
the  other  half  of  the  people's  sin-offering,  the  scape-goat, 
which  was  still  living.  The  high  priest  laid  his  hands  on 
its  head  and  made  a  full  confession  of  all  the  sins,  iniqui- 
ties, and  rebellions  of  the  people,  and  then,  with  this  load 
upon  it,  it  was  conveyed  away  by  the  hand  of  a  fit  man, 
to  be  left  in  the  wilderness  and  there -perish.  And  while 
the  temple  was  still  standing  there  were  very  strange 
accounts  among  the  people  of  the  way  in  which  it  per- 
ished. They  spoke  of  a  great  miracle,  a  terrific  wind 
which  struck  it  and  blew  it  into  many  fragments  before  it 
had  fallen  all  the  way  down  the  side  of  the  mountain. 

The  flesh  and  other  remnants  of  these  two  sin-offerings, 
after  their  blood  had  been  carried  into  the  most  holy 
place,  were  completely  consumed  in  fire  outside  the  city 
or  camp.  Two  burnt-offerings,  one  for  the  priest  and  the 
other  for  the  people,  still  remained,  and  their  blood  was 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     151 

sprinkled  on 'the  brazen  altar  to  make  an  atonement. 
Their  blood  could  not  enter  that  most  holy  chamber 
where  the  sin-offering  was  carried.  The  sin-offering  must 
be  explained  that  the  blood  of  the  animal  was  offered  to 
be  a  satisfaction  for  the  forfeited  blood  of  the  sinner's 
soul.  The  burnt-offering  was  in  large  part  of  the  same 
nature  with  the  sin-offering,  but,  as  all  its  parts  were  given 
to  God  in  the  fire  of  the  altar,  and  as  it  was  the  offering 
of  most  general  use,  and  existed  among  the  patriarchs,  it 
had  also  the  wider  meaning  of  the  dedication  of  the  whole 
man  to  God.  The  peace-offering  made  the  idea  of  con- 
cord and  favor  more  prominent ;  it  supplied  the  offerers 
with  a  feast  before  the  Lord. 

Jesus  is  these  three  things  to  his  people :  he  is  the 
sin-offering,  he  is  the  burnt-ofifering,  and  he  is  the  peace- 
offering  ;  and  the  three  reach  their  perfection  in  him. 
He  is  the  sin-offering  who  covers  sin  with  his  blood,  and 
the  living  sin-offering  who  carries  it  away  forever  out  of 
sight.  Inquire  for  blood  of  holy  excellence  and  infinite 
atoning  power :  it  is  found  in  him.  Inquire  for  un- 
paralleled self-denial  and  the  perfect  offer  of  the  whole 
self  to  God:  all  this  is  found  in  him.  He  has  prepared 
for  his  followers  a  feast  of  communion  and  love,  where 
the  bread  signifies  his  body,  and  the  cup  his  blood.  The 
impressive  fact  is  before  us,  that  an  innumerable  multitude 
are  now  on  the  face  of  the  earth  who  have  felt  the  weight 
of  their  guilt  as  painfully  as  ever  it  was  felt  by  a  worshiper 
at  the  tabernacle,  and  they  feel  their  need  of  a  sin-offering, 
•a  burnt-offering,  and  a  peace-offering,  as  intelligently  and 
intensely  as  ever  this  need  was  felt  in  Judea,  but  they  find 
a  perfect  supply  of  all  their  need  in  the  atonement  and 
intercession  of  Jesus. 

He  is  their  high  priest.  He  has  gone  into  the  heavens 
through  the  rent  veil  of  his  own  flesh.     He  has  passed 


152  THE  EPISTLE   TO    THE  HEBREWS 

through  the  outer  court  of  heaven  into  the  holy  of  holies, 
among  the  living  cherubim  and  before  the  throne,  and 
presented  his  own  blood  as  the  sin-offering  for  the  souls 
of  his  people,  and  it  is  accepted  as  the  price  paid  for 
an  inheritance  for  them  in  heaven.  Other  high  priests 
needed  blood  to  be  the  atonement  for  their  own  sin;  but 
he  was  without  sin.  The  others  presented  atonements 
which  were  only  shadowy ;  but  he  presents  the  real  atone- 
ment. The  others  renewed  the  same  atonements  every 
year;  but  his  was  finished  at  one  time,  and  cannot  be 
repeated.  The  others  were  continually  passing  away  by 
death,  and  a  new  high  priest  filled  the  office ;  but  he  is 
the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  who  was  dead  and 
is  alive  again,  and  liveth  evermore,  and  hath  the  keys 
of  death  and  of  hell. 

The  Bible  is  familiarly  known  as  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  "Where  a  testament  is,  there  must  also  of 
necessity  be  the  death  of  the  testator."  The  first  is  the 
testament  of  the  Jewish  church,  the  second  is  the  new 
testament  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  both  testators  have  died. 
If  it  pleases  you,  you  may  call  the  Jewish  church  the  vir- 
gin who  should  bring  forth  a  son  bearing  the  name  Im- 
manuel  the  Messiah ;  and  this  mother  of  Immanuel,  this 
old  church,  has  certainly  died.  The  church  which  once 
possessed  the  ark,  the  golden  cherubim,  the  brazen  altar, 
and  the  golden  altar,  is  no  more.  Het  last  will  and  testa- 
ment has  been  finished,  and  it  cannot  now  be  changed  : 
it  has  been  opened  and  read  to  all  the  world  at  her  grave. 
No  addition  can  be  made  to  the  Hebrew  canon  ;  for  the 
reason  that  no  addition  can  be  made  to  the  testament  of 
a  man  after  he  has  died.  This  testament  determines  what 
should  be  done  after  her  death,  and  wha  should  be  her 
heir.  The  work  to  be  done  after  her  death  is  to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  God  over  the  earth  as  the  waters  cover 


THE   EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     153 

the  sea,  and  her  Son,  the  Messiah,  is  appointed  her  heir  : 
the  great  work  is  all  left  in  his  hands.  He  also  has  died. 
His  testament  was  made  that  it  might  be  published  upon 
his  death,  very  much  as  her  testament  was  made  to  have 
its  seals  broken  at  her  death.  His  testament  reads  thus: 
"  Father,  I  will  that  they  also  whom  thou  hast  given  me 
be  with  me  where  I  am ;  that'  they  may  behold  my  glory 
which  thou  hast  given  me  ;"  and  this  testament  fills  the 
new  book.  It  leaves  the  Holy  Spirit  as  tjie  executor  of 
this  will,  or  we  may  say  that  it  leaves  the  apostles,  with 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  execute  this  testament 
in  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  among  all  nations.  It 
appoints  all  followers  of  Jesus"  heirs  to  an  inheritance  in 
heaven,  in  his  name.  The  Jewish  church  died  for  her 
heir  the  Messiah,  and  he  died  for  his  heirs,  and  the  two 
deaths  were  necessary  to  legalize  the  execution  of  the  two 
testaments :  if  Jesus  had  not  died,  the  Holy  Spirit  would 
not  have  been  sent  to  execute  his  will. 

The  covenant  with  the  people  at  Sinai  required  blood 
that  it  might  be  sealed.  "When  Moses  had  spoken  every 
precept  to  all  the  people  according  to  the  law,  he  took 
the  blood  of  calves  and  of  goats,  with  water,  and  scarlet 
wool,  and  hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  and  all 
the  people,  saying.  This  is  the  blood  of  the  testament 
which  God  hath  enjoined  unto  you.  Moreover,  he 
sprinkled  likewise  with  blood  both  the  tabernacle  and  all 
t'he  vessels  of  the  ministry.  And  almost  all  things  are 
by  the  law  purged  with  blood  ;  ard  without  shedding  of 
blood  is  no  remission."  Josephus  gives  the  same  account 
(book  iii.,  chap.  viii.  6):  "When  Moses  had  sprinkled 
Aaron's  vestments,  himself,  and  his  sons,  with  the  blood 
of  the  beasts  that  were  slain,  and  had  purified  them  with 
spring  waters  and  ointment,  they  became  God's  priests. 
After  this  manner  (lid  he  consecrate  them  and  their  gar- 


154 


THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE    IJEBRIiWS 


ments  for  seven  days  together.  The  same  he  did  to  the 
tabernacle  and  the  vessels  thereto  belonging,  both  with 
oil  first  incensed,  as  I  said,  and  with  the  blood  of  bulls 
and  of  rams."  A  Jewish  ritual  without  blood  must  be 
very  unlike  the  original,  and  holiness  among  the  Jews 
without  blood  could  scarcely  be  found.  The  apostle 
could  look  through  all  the  worship  at  the  tabernacle  and 
scarcely  find  any  place  where  blood  was  not  under  his 
eye.  The  quantity  of  it  required  on  the  great  day  of 
atonement  justified  him  in  saying  that  there  was  almost 
no  remission  of  sin  without  blood.  A  stranger  might 
walk  through  the  temple  and  ask,  Where  is  there  any 
remission  of  sin  without  blood  ? 

Some  passages  of  the  Jewish  prophets  have  all  the  dis- 
tinctive features  of  Christianity  stamped  on  them.  One 
example  is  Jeremiah  xxxi.  31-34:  "Behold,  the  days  come, 
saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  make  a  new  covenant  with  the 
house  of  Israel,  and  with  the  house  of  Judah  :  not  accord- 
ing to  the  covenant  that  I  made  with  their  fathers  in  the 
day  that  I  took  them  by  the  hand  to  bring  them  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt ;  which  my  covenant  they  brake, 
although  I  was  a  husband  unto  them,  saith  the  Lord : 
but  this  shall  be  the  covenant  that  I  will  make  with  the 
house  of  Israel ;  After  those  days,  saith  the  Lord,  I  will  put 
my  law  in  their  inward  parts,  and  write  it  in  their  hearts;., 
and  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people. 
And  they  shall  teach  no  more  every  man  his  neighbor, 
and  every  man  his  brother,  saying.  Know  the  Lord  :  for 
they  shall  all  know  me,  from  the  least  of  them  unto  the 
greatest  of  them,  saith  the  Lord  :  for  I  will  forgive  their 
iniquity,  and  I  will  remember  their  sin  no  more."  That 
is,  the  old  covenant  which  was  made  with  the  people  as 
they  came  out  of  E  ypt  fails  to  accomplish  the  great  end, 
and  a  new  covenant  takes  its  place ;  and  under  this  cove- 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     155 

nant  the  Spirit  of  God  writes  the  holy  law  on  the  heart 
of  the  people,  as  the  finger  of  God  once  wrote  it  on  the 
tables  of  stone,  and  all  attain  to  a  true  knowledge  of  God, 
and  a  perfect  atonement  takes  the  place  of  the  lambs  and 
goats  that  were  brought  to  the  Jewish  altar  and  were 
always  marking  sin  with  fresh  blood  on  the  horns  of  the 
altar.  This  new  covenant  implied  that  the  old  covenant 
had  finished  its  day. 

There  is  language  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  Psalms 
which  has  the  perfect  appearance  as  if  a  Christian  hand  had 
written  it.  It  is  the  fortieth  Psalm:  "Sacrifice  and  offer- 
ing thou  didst  not  desire ;  mine  ears  hast  thou  opened : 
burnt-offering  and  sin-offering  hast  thou  not  required. 
Then  said  I,  Lo,  I  come :  in  the  volume  of  the  book  it 
is  written  of  me,  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O  my  God : 
yea,  thy  law  is  within  my  heart."  The  Septuagint  has 
the  adage,  "A  body  hast  thou  prepared  me,"  in  the 
place  of  this  clause,  "Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened." 
Peradventure  both  had  been  trite  expressions  in  the  two 
languages,  of  identical  import.  When  the  smoke  was 
rolling  up  from  the  Jewish  -altar  through  hundreds  of 
years,  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  burnt-offering  and  sin- 
offering  were  not  required.  But  here  is  a  document 
setting  aside  offerings  and  sacrifices ;  and  what  now 
comes  in  their  place?  Behold,  One  is  coming,  and  of 
him  it  is  written  in  the  roll  of  the  book,  "  I  delight  to 
do  thy  will,  O  my  God."  He  holds  his  body  ready 
for  perfect  obedience.  The  sacrifices  sanctify  no  more, 
but  there  is  sanctification  for  us  in  this  body  that  has 
been  prepared,  or  in  this  "will"  which  is  accomplished 
with  so  much  delight.  The  offerings  and  sacrifices  are 
pushed  aside,  that  this  "will"  of  God  may  come  in  their 
place. 

The  eleventh  chapter   begins  with  the  definition  of 


156  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 

faith:  that  it  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen  ;  and  tlie  whole  chapter  is  a 
gallery  exhibiting  the  fine  pictures  of  the  heroes  of  faith, 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  Jewish  history.  All  these 
lived  by  faith  and  died  in  faith.  The  faith  of  Abel 
is  mentioned,  who  must  have  received  a  revelation  that 
the  worship  of  God  by  bloody  sacrifices  would  be  ac- 
cepted, and,  resting  on  this  revelation,  he  brought  the 
best  of  his  flock  and  poured  out  the  blood.  His  offering, 
with  blood,  was  accepted;  his  brother's  offering,  without 
blood,  was  rejected.  The  faith  of  Abraham  is  mentioned, 
who  received  a  son  when  all  the  laws  of  nature  pro- 
nounced it  impossible  that  he  could  then  have  a  son ;  and 
afterwards  he  virtually  performed  the  act  of  putting  his 
son  to  death,  his  faith  assuring  him  that  God  could 
raise  him  from  the  dead.  The  faith  of  Moses  is  men- 
tioned, who  trusted  more  in  the  promise  of  the  Lord  to  the 
patriarchs  than  in  all  the  wealth  and  power  which  Egypt, 
in  her  glory  and  pride,  could  lay  at  his  feet.  He  trusted 
in  the  sprinkling  of  blood  at  the  door  of  each  house  to 
avert  death  from  the  families  of  Israel  \  but  blood  could 
not  have  any  such  power  unless  a  miracle  accompanied  it. 
He  believed  in  the  blood  as  the  ordinance  of  God  to 
effect  a  wonderful  salvation,  and  withal  he  knew  that 
there  was  no  connection  of  that  salvation  with  that  blood 
by  any  laws  of  nature,  and  that  it  was  only  by  a  miracle 
that  there  was  any  such  connection.  This  faith  is  found 
always  connected  with  a  truth  which  could  not  have 
been  found  in  the  volume  of  nature  and  must  have 
issued  directly  from  God,  and  with  the  presence  of  a 
power  above  all  the  power  of  nature.  This  faith  gen- 
erally means  an  assurance  that  a  miraculous  event  will 
occur  when  all  the  laws  of  nature  would  say  that  the 
event   is   impossible.     The   faith    in    the    resurrection    of 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     157 

Jesus  has  the  same  character.  All  the  laws  of  nature 
were  against  the  possibility  of  his  resurrection  to  life  on 
the  third  day.  There  was  a  belief  that  God  had  spoken, 
that  a  message  from  him  had  been  received,  and  that  his 
promise  could  not  fail,  and  there  was  a  belief  in  the 
presence  of  a  miraculous  power ;  and  these  two  things 
describe  the  faith  of  Abraham,  of  Moses,  of  Joshua,  of 
Gideon,  of  Samson,  of  David, — of  all  this  mighty  host 
of  spiritual  heroes,  "who  through  faith  subdued  king- 
doms, wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped 
the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  es- 
caped the  edge  of  the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made 
strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies 
of  the  aliens."  The  glorious  power  of  faith  is  not  in  its 
connection  with  any  of  the  powers  of  the  world,  but  in 
its  immediate  connection  with  the  arm  of  the  Almighty, 
with  the  promise  which  he  has  spoken  or  the  will  which 
he  has  revealed. 

This  epistle  does  not  allow  any  room  to  doubt  whether 
the  patriarchs  had  a  firm  faith  in  immortality.  It  pours 
the  clear  light  of  noon  on  them  as  travelers  on  the  thorny 
road  through  this  world,  every  one  of  them  keeping  in 
his  eye  the  city  of  God  in  heaven  as  the  end  of  his 
journey.  Here  is  the  most  beautiful  light  in  which  the 
patriarchs  have  ever  been  seen. 

Let  faith  be  stronger.  "Ye  are  not  come," — so  we 
read  in  this  epistle, —  "to  the  mountain  that  may  be 
touched,  and  that  burnetii  with  fire,  nor  to  blackness, 
and  darkness,  and  tempest,  and  sound  of  trumpet,  and 
voice  of  words, — the  hearers  whereof  entreated  that  no 
more  might  be  spoken  unto  them ;  for  they  could  not 
bear  that  which  was  commanded  (And  if  so  much  as 
a  beast  touch  the  mountain,  it  shall  be  stoned;  and  so 
terrible  was  the   sight   that    Moses   said,  I   exceedingly 

14 


158 


THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 


fear  and  quake):  but  ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion,  and 
to  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem, 
and  to  myriads  of  angels  in  full  assembly,  and  to  the 
congregation  of  the  first-born,  whose  names  are  written 
in  heaven,  and  to  God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  tlic  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the  mediator  of  a 
new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  'which 
speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel."  How  clear 
the  evidence  here  that  the  apostles  believed  in  a  spiritual 
and  heavenly  Jerusalem,  which  did  not  rise  or  fall  with 
the  literal  Jerusalem  !  They  had  another  Mount  Zion 
than  that  which  could  be  passed  over  in  a  journey  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  Dead  Sea.  Keep  this  in  mind, 
if  you  please.     Some  persons  too  easily  forget  it. 

The  sentence  at  the  close,  "  They  of  Italy  salute  you," 
indicates  that  Italy  was  the  country  in  which  the  epistle 
was  written,  and,  it  may  be  said,  either  in  the  city  of 
Rome  or  not  far  from  it.  That  this  commentary  on  the 
Jewish  ritual  was  composed  in  Italy,  and  went  forth  to 
the  world  near  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  while 
the  priests  were  still  ministering  in  the  temple,  and  the 
atoning  sin-offering  was  still  sprinkled  annually  in  the 
sanctuary,  and  the  exterior  altar  was  still  rolling  up  its 
smoke  every  morning  and  evening,  is  certainly  one  of  the 
wonders  of  that  age.  Here  is  the  characteristic  light  in 
which  a  writer  in  Italy,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  manuscript,  saw  all  the  temple  ;  but  the  multi- 
tude of  priests  at  the  temple  itself  saw  it  in  no  such  light ; 
and  a  learned  Jew  residing  in  Rome,  many  years  after  the 
temple  had  been  laid  in  ashes,  wrote  concerning  it,  and 
his  view  and  the  view  in  this  epistle  are  wide  apart. 

This  writer  is  Josephus.  Look  now  ai  liis  explanation 
of  the  same  things  which  are  explained  m  the  EpiAtie  to 
the  Hebrews.     With  him  the  twelve  l<«vi^  on  tb*»  tAble 


THE   EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     159 

in  the  sanctuary  denoted  the  twelve  months  of  the  year. 
The  seven  lamps  stood  for  the  seven  planets.  The  veils, 
being  composed  of  four  things,  signified  the  four  elements  : 
the  linen  pointing  to  the  earth  whence  it  comes,  the  pur- 
ple to  the  sea  whence  a  fish  supplies  it,  the  blue  to  the  air, 
and  the  scarlet  indicating  fire.  The  girdle  around  the 
high  priest  signified  the  ocean  which  surrounds  the  world. 
The  mitre,  being  of  a  blue  color,  indicated  heaven.  The 
twelve  stones  in  the  breast -plate  might  stand  for  the 
twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac.  Later  writers,  who  have  been 
influenced  by  the  Talmud,  have  given  very  much  the  same 
views,  namely,  that  the  curtains  of  the  tabernacle  repre- 
sented the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  brazen  altar  stood 
for  all  beasts,  the  golden  altar  for  all  spices,  the  candle- 
stick for  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  seven  lamps  for  the 
seven  stars  attending  the  earth.  Some  found  the  great 
truths  of  astronomy  in  the  tabernacle,  others  the  parts 
of  the  human  body,  and  others  the  invisible  faculties  of 
the  soul.  All  these  interpretations  appear  miserably  dark 
when  set  before  the  face  of  the  light  that  fills  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews. 

The  infinite  superiority  of  the  Christian  interpretation 
appears  in  the  fact  that  it  goes  through  the  tabernacle 
a  nl  temple  and  finds  the  whole  to  be  a  prophecy;  it 
reads  the  invisible  and  mighty  future  in  the  visible 
articles.  The  ark,  the  mercy-seat,  the  golden  cherubim, 
the  veil,  the  candlestick,  the  twelve  loaves  on  the  table, 
the  golden  altar,  were  shadows  of  the  good  things  to 
come.  They  were  impressed  with  great  truths  which  the 
future  should  reveal  on  earth,  and  which  heaven  will  re- 
veal. They  contained  the  seeds  of  holy  truths  which 
should  flourish  two  thousand  years  afterwards  and  spread 
over  the  world.  The  annual  day  of  atonement  had  a 
meaning  for  all  generations  till  the  end  of  the  world. 


l6o  THE  EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 

All  the  drops  of  blood  which  fell  from  the  priest's  finger 
at  the  mercy-seat  in  the  holy  of  holies,  all  the  drops 
which  sprinkled  the  holy  veil  and  the  golden  altar  and 
left  marks  on  the  horns,  had  a  voice,  and  their  voice  was 
prophetic;  their  voice  was  the  significant  word  Wait ; 
their  meaning  was,  Wait,  and  time  will  bring  the  true 
atoning  blood  ;  accept  this  blood  now,  and  wait  for  the 
coming  of  more  precious  blood  in  the  day  of  the  Mes- 
siah. It  is  a  brilliant  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
interpretation  that  it  makes  the  whole  Mosaic  system  a 
prophecy.  This  interpretation  is  too  sublime  and  .con- 
sistent not  to  be  true.  It  is  too  sublime  to  have  any 
other  origin  than  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
All  other  interpretations  may  be  rejected  at  once,  because 
they  see  no  prophecy  in  the  Mosaic  ritual. 

Besides,  the  epistle  has  its  own  prophecy,  which  was, 
that  the  day  was  approaching,  and  might  then  be  seen, 
that  the  Jewish  commonwealth  would  soon  fall,  that  it 
would  soon  be  demonstrated  that  Jerusalem  was  no  abid- 
ing city  for  its  citizens  who  cast  reproach  on  Jesus  as 
having  been  led  to  the  outside  of  their  city  to  suffer,  like 
tlie  sin-offering  which  was  carried  without  the  camp  to  be 
burned.  The  author  could  almost  see  the  flames  already 
mounting  up  the  sides  of  the  temple  before  the  Roman 
soldiers  ;  and  he  perceived  their  awful  meaning.  When 
Jerusalem  is  thus  destroyed,  will  a  restoration  await  it  ? 
This  question  is  never  asked,  it  is  never  even  touched,  in 
the  epistle.  This  is  no  proof  that  Jerusalem  will  not 
again  be  a  Jewish  city ;  it  is  no  proof  that  the  Jews, 
restored  to  Palestine,  may  not  eventually  be  one  of 
the  mightiest  and  most  prosperous  nations  on  the  earth. 
It  may  be  one  of  the  most  glorious  days  of  the  future 
when  the  whole  land  shall  revert  to  the  original  owners. 
The  whole  world  may  unite  in  an  enthusiastic  acclama- 


THE  EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     i6i 

tion  that  the  land  shall  again  be  theirs.  This  silence, 
however,  is  ample  proof  on  one  point,  namely,  that  Jeru- 
salem in  its  spiritual  meaning  as  the  heavenly  city  is 
infinitely  more  important  than  the  literal  Jerusalem.  The 
writer  could  entirely  lose  sight  of  any  literal  restoration 
when  other  blessings  of  infinitely  higher  moment  filled 
his  eye.  The  heavenly  Jerusalem  stands  the  true  Jeru- 
salem of  the  Christian,  even  if  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Dead  Sea  should  unite  their  waves  and  roll  over  all  the 
intervening  country  till  the  last  day  of  the  world.  To 
become  citizens  upon  the  Mount  Zion  of  angels  and  of  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  is  the  object  of  first  im- 
portance ;  and  he  has  made  a  poor  reading  of  the  New 
Testament  \vho  has  found  no  holy  Jerusalem  except  the 
one  a  few  miles  from  the  Dead  Sea. 

Many  events  of  a  very  wonderful  character  followed 
the  writing  of  this  epistle,  which  make  it  appear  more  and 
more  probable  that  it  has  told  the  truth,  the  whole  truth, 
and  nothing  but  the  truth,  and  that  it  is  indeed  the  re- 
splendent crown  covering  all  the  oracles  that  ever  issued 
from  the  throne  between  the  cherubim.  In  only  a  year, 
or  two  years,  the  altar  ceased  to  smoke,  the  atoning  blood 
ceased  to  mark  its  horns,  and  both  altar  and  temple  were 
terribly  shattered  in  broken  fragments,  and  in  eighteen 
hundred  years  there  has  been  no  restoration.  This  indi- 
cates that  God  had  no  further  use  for  them.  Altar  and 
temple  ought  long  since  to  have  been  restored,  if  earnest 
prayers  could  do  it.  The  Jews  in  all  parts  of  the  world 
have  never  ceased  to  pray  for  the  restoration.  God  has 
not  answered  them,  and  he  has  always  had  a  better  thing 
for  them,  but  they  would  not  open  their  eyes  to  see 
it.  The  arm  of  imperial  power  has  joined  itself  with 
the  prayers  and  longings  of  the  Jews  to  have  the  altar 
restored.     The  mighty  emperor  Julian  the  Apostate  be- 

14* 


1 62  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS 

stowed  his  special  favor  on  the  Jews,  and  aimed  to  restore 
Jerusalem  and  the  temple,  so  that  the  arguments  of  Chris- 
tians founded  on  the  prophecies  relating  to  their  destruc- 
tion might  appear  to  be  contradicted.  He  aimed  to  give 
the  Jews  a  universal  triumph  over  Christianity,  and  gath- 
ered a  great  multitude  to  the  holy  city.  He  had  them 
all  ardently  at  work,  women  and  men,  to  restore  the 
ancient  worship  and  splendor :  the  altar  should  again 
send  up  its  smoke  within  sight  of  the  hill  where  Jesus  had 
been  crucified.  The  ground  itself  appeared  to  protest 
against  the  impious  work,  and  shot  forth  its  flaming  balls 
with  alarming  detonations,  to  blast  the  workmen  and  stop 
the  work.  The  city  could  not  be  restored ;  and  the  em- 
peror found  that  Jesus  of  Galilee  was  too  mighty  for  him.* 

If  this  epistle  be  rejected,  as  not  teaching  the  truth,  the 
consequences  are  gloomy.  It  follows  that  no  Christian 
church  in  the  world  has  a  mode  of  worship  of  equal  value 
with  the  old  sacrificial  worship  at  the  tabernacle  and  the 
temple.  That  worship  was,  through  its  whole  extent, 
the  direct  appointment  of  God  ;  but  no  Christian  worship 
rests  on  any  basis  of  Divine  appointment,  and  the  blood 
of  Jesus  is  in  no  sense  an  appointment  of  God  to  be  the 
atonement  for  sin,  if  this  epistle  be  not  true. 

Another  consequence  is  that  there  is  a  very  great  de- 
ficiency in  all  Jewish  worship  while  the  temple  lies  in 
ruins,  and  that  no  duty  more  sacred  now  devolves  on  the 
Jews  than  to  restore  as  soon  as  possible  the  altar  and 
sacrifices.  When  the  people  returned  from  Babylon,  one 
of  their  first  holy  works  was  to  restore  the  altar ;  and  if 
there  has  been  no  change  in  the  law,  the  altar  ought  to 
be  restored  now.  The  consistent  Jew  now  gazes  at  the 
feeble  light  in  the  synagogue  near  the  scrolls  of  the  Law, 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  chap,  xxiii. 


THE   EX  TONE  NT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     163 

and  feels  humiliated  ;  and  his  ardent  prayer  is  that  soon 
the  three  lights  of  the  candlestick,*  which  Josephus  says 
were  in  the  temple  during  the  daytime,  and  which  have 
been  so  long  extinguished,  may  be  again  in  their  place. 
The  songs  of  the  Jews  are  now  the  songs  of  the  Lord  in 
a  strange  land  ;  they  are  like  the  old  mournful  songs  by 
the  streams  of  Babylon.  Orthodox  Judaism  cannot,  even 
in  this  day,  advocate  any  other  view  consistently. 

The  sin-offering  was  the  climax  of  sacrifices  and  the 
special  and  characteristic  institution  of  the  Mosaic  ritual, 
the  burnt-offering  having  had  an  existence  back  among 
the  patriarchs,  and  the  peace-offering  having  also  existed 
previously.f  A  sin-offering  might  be  without  blood,  but 
it  was  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  sinner  that  caused  the 
exception.  The  maxim  became  current  among  the  rabbis 
that  the  essential  principle  or  root  of  the  atonement  is  in  the 
blood :  013  N-'H  mean  ■\|i>u  It  was  made  one  of  the  most 
strict  laws  that  no  blood  should  be  used  as  food.  Reli- 
gion furnished  the  ground  for  this  law.  The  blood  was 
appointed  to  be  given  to  the  Lord  rjn  the  altar  for  the 
atonement  of  sin  :  hence  it  could  never  come  to  the  table 
for  food.     The  atonement  was  made  by  the  destruction 

*  Antiquities,  book  iii.  chap.  viii.  3. 

f  Tholuck  refers  to  the  finding  of  an  ancient  inscription  (die  Massi- 
lische  Inschrift),  which  Movers  has  investigated  in  his  handling  of  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  Carthaginians,  as  showing  that  the  patriarchal  burnt-offering 
>■  173,  the  Mosaic  peace-offering  3  ^t:*,  with  the  offerings  of  oil  and  food,  were 
known  to  the  Canaanite  tribes,  the  heathen  neighbors  of  the  Hebrews. 
Homer  proves  that  the  same  kinds  of  animals  were  offered  in  sacrifice 
among  the  Greeks  and  Trojans  as  among  the  Jews.  Achilles  suggested 
during  the  pestilence  that  if  the  savor  of  perfect  lambs  and  goats  were 
offered  to  the  angry  Apollo,  he  might  become  willing  to  ward  off  de- 
struction from  them.  Therefore  a  better  theory  of  the  Hebrew  sacrifices 
is  called  for  than  this  one,  that  the  Jews  sacrificed  the  animals  which  the 
heathen  worshiped  as  their  deities  and  that  other  kinds  of  animals  were 
sacrificed  by  the  heathen  from  those  sacrificed  by  the  Jews. 


1 64  THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE   HEBREWS 

of  a  life  for  the  salvation  of  a  life.  The  life  was  in 
the  blood,  and  the  blood,  as  being  the  life,  was  appointed 
to  be  carried  into  the  holy  of  holies  on  the  day  of  atone- 
ment, and  to  be  poured  out  at  the  altar;  and  hence  it  had 
a  holy  character,  and  man  was  not  permitted  to  use  it. 

When  the  intelligent  Israelite  of  the  present  day  goes 
through  all  the  services  of  the  great  day  of  atonement, 
— the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month, — when  he  has  read 
the  whole  volume  of  prayers  and  kept  the  rigid  fast 
through  the  prescribed  time,  what  assurance  has  he  that 
the  whole  has  been  any  true  atonement  for  his  sins,  or 
that  God  will  accept  it  as  such?  The  whole  service  has 
been  without  one  drop  of  that  blood  which  the  law  re- 
quires;  and  the  law  declares  most  explicitly  that  it  "is 
the  blood  that  maketh  an  atonement  for  the  soul"  (Lev. 
xvii.  ii).  Does  my  friend  suggest  that  repentance,  fast- 
ing, and  prayer  now  make  the  atonement  ?  But  this  di- 
rectly contradicts  the  law,  which  says  that  it  is  the  shed 
blood  which  makes  the  atonement.  These  never  made 
the  atonement  in  the  time  of  Moses  and  the  prophets : 
how  can  they  be  sufficient  to  make  the  atonement  now? 
Will  my  friend  argue  that  the  tears  of  true  repentance  are 
more  acceptable  to  God  than  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats 
on  the  altar?  But  the  tears  of  true  repentance  were  just 
as  acceptable  to  God  in  ancient  Israel  as  they  are  now  ; 
yet  they  were  never  accepted  for  the  atonement  then,  and 
can  they  be  accepted  now?  Will  he  tell  me  that  God  is 
very  merciful,  and  that  in  his  mercy  he  will  accept  repent- 
ance and  prayer  for  the  atonement  ?  But  he  had  the  same 
mercy  thousands  of  years  ago ;  and  if  he  never  then 
accepted  a  day  of  atonement  in  Israel  without  blood,  will 
he  now  accept  it  ?  Is  it  answered  that  sin  doubtless 
required  repentance,  fasting,  and  prayer,  with  an  atone- 
ment in  blood,  at  that  time,  but  that  a  less  atonement  will 


THE   EXPONENT  OF  ANCIENT  JUDAISM.     165 

cancel  it  now  ?  But  sin  is  just  as  wrong  and  hateful 
before  God  now  as  ever  it  was;  and  if  only  blood  could 
cover  it  then,  where  is  any  less  atonement  prescribed  to 
cover  it  now? 

The  answer  again  returns  that  God  is  all-merciful  and 
we  can  trust  in  his  mercy,  that  he  has  no  delight  in  blood, 
and  that  he  does  not  require  blood  to  appease  his  anger 
or  hide  sin  from  his  view.  Such  an  answer  is  consistent 
only  as  coming  from  heathen  lips;  neither  Jew  nor  Chris- 
tian can  consistently  take  any  such  ground.  The  heathen 
can  consistently  declare  that  they  possess  no  written  law 
which  has  come  directly  from  God  and  which  requires 
bloody  sacrifices  as  an  atonement ;  and  a  heathen  or  in- 
fidel philosophy  very  naturally  runs  to  the  conclusion  that 
all  such  sacrifices  have  their  whole  origin  in  the  super- 
stitious and  guilty  imaginations  of  the  world.  The  Jew 
dare  not  take  any  such  ground*,  because  he  possesses-  a 
voluminous  written  law,  in  which  he  trusts  as  having 
come  directly  from  God,  and  which  in  innumerable 
ways  demands  blood  for  the  atonement  of  sin.  The 
Christian  is,  if  possible,  still  more  completely  cut  off 
from  all  such  views,  because  the  gospel  teaches  him  to 
trust  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  as  the  only  complete  and 
effectual  atonement  for  sin.  The  heathen  idolater,  there- 
fore, is  the  man  who  of  all  men  on  the  earth  can  most 
consistently  declare  that  he  has  never  found  any  solid 
foundation  in  the  holy  will  of  God  for  the  theory  of  the 
need  of  atonements  by  blood.  When  Moses  proclaimed  in 
Egypt  that  there  should  be  the  sprinkling  of  blood  at  the 
doors  of  all  the  houses  of  Israel  to  save  the  first-born 
from  death,  it  was  only  the  infidel  who  doubted  whether 
that  blood  was  the  ordinance  of  God  for  such  a  salva- 
tion ;  and  it  was  the  infidel  who  could  then  argue  that  to 
keep  themselves  within   closed   doors  without  any  such 


1 66      THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE  HEBREWS,  ETC. 

sprinkling  of  blood  would  make  them  sufficiently  safe,  and 
that  God  did  not  delight  in  blood,  and  could  save  them 
as  well  without  it  if  he  pleased.  If  the  people  of  Israel 
now  stand  on  the  ground  that  all  sacrifices  were  to  be 
brought  to  the  altar  at  Jerusalem,  and  that  the  law  would 
be  broken  by  any  sacrifices  in  any  other  place,  and  if 
the  great  day  of  annual  atonement  now  passes  among 
them  without  any  blood  of  the  bullock  and  the  goat 
which  the  law  required  to  be  sprinkled  in  the  holy  of 
holies  and  on  the  altar,  because  they  are  not  in  Jerusalem, 
it  only  proves  how  true  are  the  words  of  Rashi,  the 
princely  Jewish  commentator,  as  they  are  found  in 
his  notes  on  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Genesis,  the 
eighth  verse,  that  "the  son  of  Israel  dwelling  outside  of 
the  holy  land  is  as  if  he  has  no  God." 

M.  R.  M. 


LETTER    IX. 

Honored  Rabbi  :  — 

Let  me  now  lay  before  you  a  general  review  of  the  fore- 
going arguments. 

The  first  argument  was  that  the  holy  name  Adonai  is 
properly  a  noun  of  the  plural  number,  meaning  My 
Lords ;  that  it  commences  in  the  Bible  with  Abraham, 
and  that  as  Abraham  and  Lot  used  it  several  times  in  the 
last  twenty-four  hours  of  the  duration  of  Sodom,  it  stood 
for  One  Eternal  Jehovah,  and  its  plurality  stood  for  the 
three  persons  through  whom  this  Eternal  One  was  then 
revealed  :  its  plurality  is  also  very  manifest  in  the  use  of 
it  as  a  secular  term  once  by  Lot  at  the  same  time. 

The  second  argument  was  that  the  four-lettered  adora- 
ble and  ineffable  name  has  two  combinations  of  Three  in 
it:  first,  with  the  patriarchs  it  was  He-who-will-be,  He- 
who-is-now ,  and  He-who-was ;  and  secondly,  with  Moses, 
who  exceeded  all  preceding  prophets,  it  first  separated 
itself  into  three  distinct  names,  the  Jah,  the  I-will-be- 
that-Lwill-be,  and  the  new  Jehovah  which  had  not  been 
known  to  the  patriarchs ;  that  these  three  names  are 
equally  proper  nouns  standing  for  the  Eternal  One,  and 
they  are  equally  designations,  not  of  any  one  of  his  attri- 
butes, not  of  any  combination  of  his  attributes,  and  not  of 
any  of  his  wonderful  works,  like  the  term  Creator,  but  of 
his  eternal  essence,  his  innermost  unity,  and  that  they 
are  equally  holy,  glorious,  and  incomprehensible  ;  and  the 


1 68  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

same  three  names  become  in  the  New  Testament  the 
Father,  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Son  of  God  in  the  centre. 
The  third  argument  can  be  illustrated  by  the  first  verse 
in  the  Epistle  of  James: — "James,  a  servant  of  God 
and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  twelve  tribes  which 
are  scattered  abroad,  greeting;"  in  which  verse  the  term 
Kurios  (Lord)  might  with  the  highest  propriety  have  been 
joined  to  the  first  Divine  name,  which  is  God,  but  it  is 
actually  joined  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  it  is.  proved  to 
be  as  much  an  appellative  as  a  proper  name  ;  and  the 
Hebrew  tetragrammatic  ineffable  name  of  which  it  is  the 
uniform  translation  is  conceded  by  the  ablest  rabbinic 
scholars,  and  proved  by  the  laws  of  Hebrew  grammar, 
to  be  stamped  with  this  same  appellative  character, 
this  same  character  of  a  common  noun,  while  it  still 
remains  the  essential,  exclusive,  incommunicable,  and 
supremely  holy  Divine  name.  Its  appellative  character 
is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  view  that  genuine  Judaism 
is  unitarian.  This  verse  cited  from  James  presents  Jesus 
as  the  Kurios;  but  there  is  another  verse  where  clearly 
another  person  is  the  Kurios:  "At  that  time  Jesus  an- 
swered and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  oi  heaven 
and  earth."  (Matt.xi.  25.)  Now,  let  this  same  appellative 
character  be  identified  in  the  term  Jehovah  Sabaoth, 
Jehovah  of  hosts,  this  same  susceptibility  of  an  applica- 
tion to  two  persons, — and  it  must  have  this  to  be  an 
appellative, — and  then  good-night  to  Unitarianism.  It 
must  leave  the  inside  of  the  Bible :  do  shut  the  door 
on  it.* 

The  fourth  argument  was  that  as  the  Lord  proclaimed 

*  Notice  particularly  the  note  subjoined  at  the  middle  of  my  second 
letter,  and  containing  the  quotation  from  Aben  Ezra  on  the  tetragram- 
maton  as  being  both  a  nonien  proprium  and  an  appellative,  a  Dxyn  d::' 
and  "iNH   DC. 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  169 

his  name  to  Moses  at  Horeb,  after  the  worship  of  the 
golden  calf,  as  htmg  Jehovah  Jehovah,  so  the  Son  of  God 
has  a  glory  in  the  New  Testament  similar  to  the  glory  of 
the  second  name,  as  it  comes  after  the  first :  he  is  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth;  and 
the  miracle  of  his  resurrection  from  the  dead  cannot  be 
gainsaid  with  any  show  of  reasonable  argument,  and  it 
of  itself  sufficiently  proves  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God, 
as  he  had  so  often  said. 

The  fifth  argument  was  that  the  Divine  names,  having 
no  appearance  of  plurality,  current  among  the  patriarchs, 
such  as  iT/and  El  Ely  on  (God  most  high),  and  Shaddai 
and  El  Shaddai  a.Vid  Eloah,  received  no  special  honor  from 
Moses,  but  he  almost  banished  them  from  his  own  theo- 
logical vocabulary,  and  he  filled  their  place  with  other 
names  most  clearly  of  the  plural  number,  such  as  Elohim 
diwd  Ado?iai  ax\6.  Adom'tn,  and  the  four-lettered  namey^- 
hovah,  developing  itself  into  three  new  cognate  names  and 
carrying  all  its  original  and  essential  glory  out  into  each 
one  of  them  ;  and  this  change  of  Divine  names  proves 
that  the  Mosaic  theology  was  an  advance  from  the  earlier 
patriarchal,  in  the  direction  of  the  Christian  Trinity,  and 
that  it  occupies  an  intermediate  stage  of  development  be- 
tween the  two  ;  and  it  most  clearly  proves  that  it  could  not 
have  been  the  chief  object  of  Moses  to  establish  a  simple 
Unitarianism  as  the  creed  of  Judaism. 

The  sixth  argument  was  that  the  theological  watchword, 
"Hear,  O  Israel :  Jehovah  our  Elohim  is  one  Jehovah" 
(Deut.  vi.  4),  rises  to  a  vastly  higher  sublimity  if  full 
justice  be  done  to  the  plurality  in  Adonai,  the  plurality 
in  Elohim,  and  the  wonderful  plurality  which  in  the  age 
of  Moses  became  clearly  manifested  in  this  four-lettered 
name ;  that  thus  the  watchword  becomes  the  impress  of 
unity  on  diversity,  whereas  according   to  the  unitarian 


lyo  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

interpretation  it  is  the  impress  of  unity  on  unity  and 
becomes  almost  a  vacant  saying.  The  argument  is  that 
tliis  text  will  be  infinitely  more  glorious  in  heaven  than 
ever  it  has  appeared  to  be  on  earth  ;  that  there  is  a  world 
of  Divine  truth  in  it,  which  needs  all  the  light  of  heaven 
and  of  eternity  to  bring  it  out  fully  into  view ;  and  that 
its  chief  value  is  its  internal  treasure  of  truth,  whereas 
Unitarians  find  almost  no  value  in  it  except  as  an  external 
protection,  and  the  Unitarianism  of  the  Jews  makes  it  a 
mere  wall  of-defense  at  the  outside,  to  shut  out  false  gods 
and  idols  from  the  holy  soil  of  Judaism  ;  so  that  when 
all  idolatry  is  banished  from  the  earth  the  old  wall  will 
hardly  be  needed  anymore.  The  Trinitarian  beholds  this 
text  rising  in  higher  and  still  higher  glory,  as  expressive 
of  the  internal  relations  of  the  Supreme  Being,  when  the 
last  idol  of  the  earth  shall  have  been  laid  in  its  grave  a 
thousand  years. 

The  seventh  argument  was  that  the  prophet  Zechariah 
speaks  of  the  Lord  who  should  bring  forth  his  servant 
the  Branch  and  should  engrave  the  seven  eyes  on  the 
stone;  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — "Not  by  might,  nor  by 
power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts ;"  and  if 
this  stone,  engraved  with  the  seven  eyes  which  are  the 
seven  eyes  of  the  Lord  running  to  and  fro  through  the 
whole  earth,  is  the  Messiah,  then  the  Three  are  brought 
out  to  view,-  the  Father,  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Son. 

The  eighth  argument  was  that  Ezekiel,  in  his  three  chap- 
ters from  the  thirty-seventh  to  the  thirty-ninth  inclusive, 
speaks  of  the  Lord  and  the  Lord's  servant  David,  who,  it  is 
there  predicted,  will  be  shepherd  and  prince  over  Israel 
forever;  and  he  closes  with  the  mention  of  the  Spirit: 
"  Neither  will  I  hide  my  face  any  more  from  them  ;  for 
I  have  poured  out  my  spirit  upon  the  house  of  Israel, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts  ;"  and  these  same  three  appear  in 


WITH  HANDLING    OF   OBJECTIONS.  171 

the  New  Testament  as  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

The  ninth  argument  was  that  the  book  of  Isaiah  has 
the  Lord  from  eternity,  and  the  Branch  from  Jesse's  root, 
and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  resting  on  this  Branch ;  and 
these  same  three  are,  in  the  New  Testament,  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  tenth  argument  was  that  Christianity  certainly 
repels  Unitarianism,  and  the  ancient  Judaism  pierces  it 
with  many  inextricable  and  fatal  thorns;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  it  is  the  essential  doctrine  of  Mohammedanism 
and  the  Koran  ;  it  has  there  its  undisputed  lodging,  its 
safest  home;  and  this  itself  is  an  unanswerable  argument 
against  it,  because  the  truth  that  was  to  carry  Divine  bless- 
ings over  all  the  world  was  not  to  come  from  Abraham 
through  Ishmael,  but  through  Isaac ;  and  Jesus  is  the  son 
of  Isaac. 

The  eleventh  argument  was  that  the  most  searching  glass 
fails  to  discover  any  pure  Trinitarianism  in  the  mythology 
of  Greece,  Egypt,  or  India;  that  it  appears  to  have  its  best 
show  there  in  the  dragon,  the  neck  of  which  supported 
three  heads ;  but  in  the  faith  of  Jews  and  Christians  it  is 
the  good  tree  planted  over  the  bones  of  the  serpent,  which 
brings  forth  its  fruit  in  faith,  hope,  and  love,  for  the 
spiritual  life  of  all  the  world. 

The  twelfth  argument  was  chiefly  confined  to  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  :  it  consisted  for 
the  most  part  of  proofs  that  the  Messiah,  as  the  Son  of  God 
and  as  the  anointed  Elohim,  has  names  given  him  in  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  higher  than  any  names  that  can  be 
found  among  the  angels  ;  that  the  four  quotations  relating 
to  the  Messiah,  from  the  Old  Testament,  in  this  chapter, 
are  according  to  the  Hebrew,  and  are  taken  from  the 
Septuagint ;  and  that  all  the  seven  quotations  from  the 


172  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

Old  Bible  in  this  chapter  are  transferred  from  the  Septiia- 
gint,  and  the  chapter  appears  to  have  been  designed 
especially  for  the  eyes  of  Alexandrian  Jews ;  that  no 
quoted  sentence  is  distorted,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  lies  in  the  epistle. 

The  thirteenth  argument  was  that  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  came  into  existence  in  the  last  hour  of  the  sacri- 
ficial service  at  the  altar  and  the  temple,  and  deserves  to 
be  accepted  as  the  true  exponent  of  the  ancient  Judaism ; 
that  no  other  theory  gives  the  Jewish  ritual  such  a  sublime 
meaning  and  invests  its  memory  with  such  a  holy  value 
for  all  generations  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  that  if  it' 
is  the  authoritative  and  final  exponent  of  ancient  Judaism, 
and  it  teaches  both  that  the  Messiah  is  the  Son  of  God  in 
the  highest  sense,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  it 
follows  that  Unitariahism,  as  opposed  to  Trinitarianism, 
must  be  a  principle  of  heathenism  rather  than  of  that 
specific  Judaism  which  unfolds  itself  in  this  epistle. 

The  fourteenth  argument  will  appear  in  my  tenth  letter, 
which  will  be  the  next  after  this. 

I  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  various  weighty 
objections.  I  have  searched  carefully  for  them  through 
your  six  letters  addressed  to  me.  Confident  expectation 
fixed  its  eyes  on  you,  as  you  were  known  to  be  a  distin- 
guished Hebraist  and  an  accomplished  German  scholar, 
for  an  excellent  defense  of  Unitarianism.  Some  objections 
which  I  expected  you  to  make  very  prominent  you  have 
entirely  omitted.  You  make  a  confession  in  your  sixth 
and  last  letter,  which  I  must  praise  for  its  truth  and  candor. 
Your  words  are  these:  "  I  owe  you  yet  a  great  deal ;  for  I 
liave  only  commenced  to  refute  your  first  article,  and  have 
only  touched  the  first  point  of  your  second."  My  reply 
is  that  your  progress  has  been  slow.  It  was  well  to  tell 
the  truth  ;  but  then  it  would  have  been  a  little  more  of 


WITH  HANDLING   OF  OBJECTIONS.  173 

the  truth  if  you  had  acknowledged  that  you  did  not 
find  one  thing  to  weaken,  in  any  way,  the  argument  in 
my  first  letter.  I  suppose  that  of  all  my  arguments 
the  weakest  was  this  first  one, — the  one  founded  on  the 
name  Adonai;  but  you  never  dared  to  say  that  this  name 
in  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Genesis  is  not  of  the  plural 
number  and  does  not  there  stand  for  three  persons. 
You  have  not  once  touched  the  essential  point  which  I 
brought  out  so  prominently,  that  it  is  not  a  tenable  theory 
that  the  plurality  of  the  word  in  that  chapter  arises  from 
the  mixture  of  two  created  persons  with  the  Creator  him- 
self. How  you  would  walk  through  the  whole  length  of 
my  second  letter, — how  you  would  handle  the  manifest 
fact  that  Kurios,  or  Lord,  as  a  Divine  name,  is  an  appel- 
lative or  common  noun  in  the  New  Testament,  being 
applied  to  both  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  other  fact 
so  overwhelming  to  the  unitarian  cause,  that  the  ineffable, 
most  holy  name  has,  with  all  the  same  clearness,  passed 
into  an  appellative, — are  two  questions  which  I  am  not 
able  to  answer,  because  I  have  not  seen  you  make  the 
attempt.  The  ablest  argumentation  which  you  have 
brought  against  me  on  any  point  is  that  in  the  phrase 
Elohim  Kedoshim  (holy  God),  which  joins  an  adjective 
in  the  plural  with  Elohim,  thus  proving  that  the  last  is 
also  plural,  it  is  the  simple  plural  of  majesty, — a  good 
argument  on  your  side ;  but  I  hope  you  will  see  that  it 
can  be  answered.  Only  have  a  little  patience  with  me. 
You  give  particular  and  protracted  attention  to  the  line  of 
the  poet, — 

"  A  virgin  shall  conceive,  a  virgin  bear  a  son  :" 

but  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  in  the  Trinity  is  the  subject 
chosen  for  our  discussion,  and  the  son  of  a  virgin  belongs 
to  another  subject.  I  prefer  not  to  mix  our  examination 
of  Trinitarianism  with  another  subject.     The  most  rigid 

15* 


174 


GENERAL   REVIEW, 


Unitarian  might  believe  that  the  birth  of  Jesus  was  con- 
nected with  a  miracle,  just  as  all  Jews  believe  that  the 
origin  of  Adam  was  in  a  miracle.  Some  Unitarians  now 
retain  the  miraculous  conception  in  their  creed  ;  and  it  is 
stated  that  "it  is  one  of  the  last  articles  which  Dr. 
Priestley  has  curtailed  from  his  scanty  creed." 

I  aim  now  to  have  your  work  done  better  than  you 
have  left  it,  in  presenting  a  list  of  the  most  forcible  objec- 
tions to  the  Trinitarian  doctrine. 

The  first  objection  is  that  the  plurality  in  all  the  names 
for  the  Supreme  Being,  as  Eloliim,  Adonai,  Adouim,  Cre- 
ator, or,  more  literally,  Creators  (Eccles.  xii.  i),  Makers 
(Isa.  liv.  5),  Holy  Ones  (Josh.  xxiv.  19),  Gods  of  gods 
(Ps.  cxxxvi.  2),  and  Lords  of  lords  (Deut.  x.  17),  must  be 
explained  on  the  simple  theory  oi  i\\Q  plural  of  majesty. 

That  there  is  a  plural  of  majesty  is  not  disputed  ;  but 
that  this  explains  the  plurality  in  the  names  of  the  Cre- 
ator is  the  point  which  can  be  called  in  question.  Divine 
names  of  the  singular  number,  such  as  Eloah  and  Shaddal, 
occur  much  more  frequently  in  the  poetry  of  the  Bible 
than  in  the  prose.  Thus,  the  word  Eloah  occurs  only 
twice  in  all  the  Pentateuch,  and  both  these  instances  are 
in  the  excellent  song  which  Moses  composed  at  the  close 
of  his  life  and  left  to  be  impressed  on  the  memory  of  the 
people  in  all  ages.  Poetry  is  eminently  the  language  of 
majesty  ;  and  if  these  are  plurals  of  majesty  they  ought  to 
be  found  glowing  beautifully  through  the  poetry  of  the 
Bible,  rather  than  in  its  plain  history  ;  but  just  the  oppo- 
site is  the  fact:  these  plurals  abound  in  the  plain  history, 
while  the  Divine  names  of  the  singular  number  are  found 
more  generally  in  the  majestic  poetry. 

Observe,  further,  that  Moses  found  the  names  of  the 
singular  number  very  current  and  most  sacred  among  his 
fathers  the  patriarchs;  and  can  it  be  admitted  that  he  re- 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  175 

jected  them  and  filled  their  place  with  plural  names  from 
a  regard  to  majesty  ?  It  is  always  better  that  language 
express  truth  than  that  it  glitter  with  majesty.  If  Moses 
saw  a  great  truth  in  these  plural  names,  there  was  a  good 
reason  why  he  should  make  the  change  and  give  them 
such  overshadowing  prominence  in  the  Bible  ;  but  if  he 
introduced  them  only  for  their  majesty,  the  change  cannot 
be  too  severely  censured.  If  his  great  object  was  to  estab- 
lish the  simple  doctrine  of  Unitarianism  for  all  ages,  he 
ought  to  have  repelled  the  majesty  of  any  Divine  plurality 
with  abhorrence.  He  ought  never  to  have  set  the  fasci- 
nating majesty  of  polytheism  and  idolatry  before  the  eyes 
of  his  people.  It  is  a  detestable  theory  that  he  wished  to 
have  majesty,  and  for  this  reason  designated  the  one  true 
God  uniformly  by  names  literally  signifying  more  than 
one.  This  would  be  to  declar*  that  he  found  the  unity 
of  God,  as  held  by  the  patriarchs,  soantiquated  and  so 
destitute  of  beauty  that  he  had  to  borrow  paint  from  the 
altars  of  idols  to  give  it  a  coating  of  true  majesty  and 
beauty.  This  would  be  to  assert  that  all  through  the 
Bible,  and  especially  in  its  historical  and  prose  parts,  it  is 
the  paint  borrowed  from  the  manufacturing  houses  of  poly- 
theism that  sets  that  peculiar  majesty  on  the  God  of  Israel. 
Moses  certainly  would  not  use  language  that  was  really  one 
of  the  worst  lies  of  idolatry,  merely  because  there  was  a 
glitter  of  majesty  in  it.  Especially  ought  every  Israelite  to 
abhor  the  first  intimation  of  this  kind  concerning  Moses. 
The  second  objection  is  that  our  philosophy  cannot 
touch  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity,  that  it  never  has  been 
explained  how  the  Three  can  be  One  and  the  One  can  be 
Three,  and  never  can  be  explained  ;  that  the  whole  sub- 
ject exists  in  the  best-educated  minds  as  a  kind  of  poly- 
theistic mist;  that  reason  is  bewildered,  and  the  mystery 
is  too  inexplicable  and  self-contradicting  to  be  credible. 


176  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

That  day  when  Abraham  reached  Mount  Moriah,  bound 
his  beloved  son  of  about  twelve  years  of  age  on  the  aUar, 
and  raised  his  hand  armed  with  a  knife  to  take  the  life  of 
his  son,  settled  the  point  for  all  future  ages  that  man's 
reason  is  not  supreme  in  the  Jewish  religion,  but  that  reve- 
lation is  supreme.  Reason  would  have  told  Abraham  on 
that  day  that  he  was  making  himself  a  murderer,  that  he 
was  bringing  a  most  horrible  stain  on  his  character  which 
could  never  be  washed  out ;  but  the  Lord  had  told  him  to 
do  it,  and  it  was  supernatural  revelation  that  guided  him, 
not  his  own  reason. 

It  is  high  presumption  in  reason  to  claim  to  be  per- 
mitted to  walk  with  open  eyes  around  the  glorious  throne 
of  the  Almighty.  There  is  that  mild  light  in  the  lower 
sphere  of  all  created  things,  in  which  reason  has  the  right 
to  walk,  and  which  furnishes  infinite  enjoyment  to  her 
open  eyes;  but  she  cannot  ascend  into  the  higher  sphere 
.  of  the  eternal  Creator  except  to  be  dazzled  and  compelled 
to  draw  the  veil  over  her  eyes.  Cold  reason  is  not  the 
highest  faculty  of  the  human  soul :  some  faculties  con- 
nected with  the  heart  hold  a  much  higher  place,  and  these 
highest  faculties  display  their  supremacy  and  excellent 
beauty  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  The  eternal  throne 
does  not  call  us  up  to  see  all  things  and  understand  them  ; 
higher  privileges  are  there  than  the  privileges  of  sight, 
higher  enjoyments  are  there  than  the  enjoyments  of  clear 
intellectual  vision  :  the  cloud  of  mystery  and  glory  is 
always  resting  over  that  throne ;  and  that  is  the  place  for 
wonder,  for  amazement,  for  the  celestial  song,  for  the 
rapturous  Hallelu  Jah,  for  the  veiling  of  all  eyes  before 
the  dazzling  glory,  for  the  prostration  in  the  dust,  and 
for  the  casting  of  the  crowns  at  the  feet  of  Him  who  sit- 
teth  on  the  throne.  Religion  is  the  sphere  of  holy  wor- 
ship; but  reason  is  not  the  worshiping  faculty  in  the  soul ; 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECriONS.  177 

it  belongs  rather  to  a  lower  grade.  Unapproachable 
majesty  reigns  in  heavenly  things  ;  and  if  majesty  and 
religion  require  names  of  the  plural  number  for  God,  it  is 
certain  that  truth  also  requires  them,  and  reason  has  no 
right  to  interpose  the  objection  of  mystery  :  she  ought  to 
know  her  lower  place  among  the  faculties. 

One  may  have  this  conception  of  God's  unity,  that 
he  is  the  central  point  of  all  worlds,  somewhat  as  we  con- 
ceive of  the  centre  of  gravity  in  the  single  world ;  that 
all  material  magnitude  and  intellectual  power  and  moral 
worth  throughout  all  worlds  have  their  perfect  centre  in 
him,  so  that  all  created  things  are  in  concentric  circles 
around  him  and  all  things  are  an  outgrowth  from  him. 
He  would  then  be  a  unit  in  the  same  sense  that  a  mere 
central  point  is  a  perfect  unit,  and  he  would  exist  in  no 
relations  except  those  which  he  holds  to  the  objects  and 
beings  around  him  ;  all  internal  relations  would  be  seen 
at  once  to  be  an  impossibility.  If  the  unity  of  God  is 
committed  to  the  unassisted  teaching  of  human  reason, 
this  is  probably  the  best  conception  of  it,  and  it  seems  as 
if  it  ouglit  to  be  the  genuine  unitarian  conception.  Cold 
reason  might  teach  such  a  doctrine  as  this;  but  the  glow- 
ing poetry  of  heathenism  could  not  confine  the  Deity 
to  that  centre  where  all  material  and  moral  laws  come 
together  in  one  point-;  it  dispersed  the  Divine  essence 
through  the  universe,  so  that  one  god  was  enthroned  in 
the  woods,  another  presided  over  a  river,  and  another 
held  his  seat  in  the  sun.  Such  heathen  poetry  has  really 
more  religion  in  it  than  the  conception  of  the  unity  of 
God  as  identified  with  that  universal  centre  in  which 
lies  the  balance  of  all  worlds.  The  Bible  teaches  an  essen- 
tially different  doctrine.  It  does  not  point  to  God  in 
the  centre  of  all  created  things ;  it  raises  his  glory  above 
all  the  heavens,  so  that  all  the  constellations  of  the  night 

H* 


178  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

make  only  the  beautiful  gem  in  the  ring  which  he  carries 
on  his  finger.  If  this  is  the  right  view  of  the  eternal 
essence  as  having  its  sphere  infinitely  above  the  sphere  of 
all  created  things,  it  is  not  contrary  to  reason  to  conceive 
of  it  as  having  a  life  separate  from  all  created  things  and 
independent  of  them,  as  having  internal  actions  and  com- 
munications, or  rather  as  having  different  centres  of  inter- 
nal relations:  these  centres  of  internal  relations  may  be 
three,  and  the  best  names  which  we  can  have  for  them 
may  be  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  third  objection  is  that  the  Trinity  has  no  analogy 
in  universal  nature. 

This  may  be  asserted  with  truth,  but  it  is  not  true  in 
every  aspect.  The  thing  cannot  be  found  in  nature  which 
has  a  substantial  existence  and  which  exists  as  a  simple 
unit  without  any  combination.  One  of  the  first  lessons 
in  natural  science  is  that  matter  exists  in  three  essential 
dimensions, — length,  breadth,  and  thickness.  No  particle 
of  matter  can  enter  our  conceptions  so  small  that  it  does 
not  possess  a  length,  a  breadth,  and  a  thickness.  Our 
earth  has  the  same  dimensions, — a  longitude,  a  latitude, 
and  a  diameter.  The  sun  could  not  be  a  shining  globe 
without  a  longitude,  a  latitude,  and  a  diameter.  Every 
star  that  blazes  in  the  universe  has  the  same  three  dimen- 
sions. That  fixed  star  may  appear  to  the  most  powerful 
telescope  as  being  a  single  luminous  point  without  any 
visible  extent ;  but  astronomy  teaches  that  it  must  have  a 
length,  a  breadth,  and  a  thickness.  A  star  might  be  known 
through  many  ages  as  only  a  single  luminous  point,  but 
an  advance  of  astronomy  might  come,  bringing  its  length, 
its  breadth,  and,  its  thickness  into  actual  measurement ; 
and  so  the  unity  of  God  might  be  the  doctrine  through 
many  long  ages,  and  the  Trinity  might  first  come  to  view 
in  the  higher  developments  of  theology.     The  whole  ere- 


WITH  HA XD LING    OF  OBJECTIONS..  179 

ated  universe  is  known  to  us  in  three  aspects  :  first,  as  ex- 
tending out  through  space,  so  that  there  are  objects  more 
near  and  more  distant ;  secondly,  as  advancing  forward 
in  time,  so  that  there  was  the  world  of  yesterday  and  the 
world  of  the  day  before  yesterday;  and,  thirdly,  as  rising 
up  in  dignity,  so  that  there  are  many  orders  of  beings, 
ascending  up  to  the  highest  rank  of  angels. 

One  prophet  speaks  of  a  stone  which  the  Lord  himself 
engraves,  and  thus  seven  eyes  are  cut  in  it  which  are  the 
seven  eyes  of  the  Lord  running  to  and  fro  through  the 
whole  earth.  Imagine  that  this  stone  is  perfectly  circular, 
and  that  the  seven  eyes  are  cut  in  its  circumference  at 
equal  distances  from  one  another,  and  then  all  the  seven 
eyes  might  stand  in  exactly  the  same  relations  to  the 
whole  body  of  the  stone.  Each  e.ye  might  be  called  a 
centre  of  internal  relations;  and  all  the  seven,  standing 
in  exactly  the  same  relations  to  the  whole  stone,  might 
help  to  illustrate  what  might  be  the  meaning  of  different 
centres  of  internal  relations  in  the  eternal  Godhead. 

Man  himself  has  in  one  sense  three  natures,  he  has 
three  lives:  first,  he  has  a  life  giving  him  a  physical 
growth  and  having  its  centre  in  his  blood,  which  would 
place  him  among  vegetables  if  he  had  no  higher  nature ; 
secondly,  he  has  an  animal  life,  having  its  centre  in  the 
brain,  which  would  give  him  his  rank  down  among  ani- 
mals if  he  had  no  higher  life ;  and,  thirdly,  he  has  a 
moral  and  immortal  life,  or  a  higher  nature,  in  which  he 
knows  and  worships  God,  and  which  gives  him  a  brother- 
hood among  the  angels.  The  mysteries  of  the  combina- 
tion of  these  three  lives  in  one  person  are  inexplicable. 
And  shall  he  whose  own  nature  entangles  his  reason  in 
impenetrable  mysteries  claim  that  the  God  in  whom  he 
believes  must  have  a  nature  and  a  personality  which  he 
can  understand  ? 


l8o  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

These  are  presented  as  illustrations  how  all  things  that 
exist  in  nature  present  combinations;  but  no  one  of  them 
must  be  considered  as  a  proper  illustration  of  the  adorable 
Trinity.  All  things  in  nature  lead  into  great  mistakes,  if 
a  close  likeness  to  the  Trinity  be  sought  in  any  one. 

The  fourth  objection  is  that  the  whole  controversy  is 
settled  in  the  verse  (Zech.  xiv.  9),  "And  Jehovah  shall  be 
king  over  all  the  earth  :  in  that  day  shall  there  be  one 
Jehovah,  and  his  name  one."  But  if  the  whole  of  this 
chapter  be  examined,  it  may  be  found  that  it  is  not  the 
most  inviting  chapter  for  those  who  are  collecting  argu- 
ments for  the  support  of  Unitarianism.  This  same  king 
is  afterwards  mentioned  in  the  same  chapter  as  being  Je- 
hovah's King  ;  at  least  so  Aben  Ezra  interprets  the  verse, 
"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  every  one  that  is  left 
of  all  the  nations  which  came  against  Jerusalem  shall  even 
go  up  from  year  to  year  to  worship  the  King,  the  Jehovah 
of  hosts."  Aben  Ezra  pronounces  this  an  incorrect  ver- 
sion, and  he  sees  in  the  Masoretic  pointing  the  proof  that 
the  word  king  is  here  in  the  construct  state,  as  gramma- 
rians say  ;  so  that  it  must  be  read,  to  worship  the  King  of 
Jehovah  of  hosts,  that  is,  the  Messiah  as  the  king  whom 
Jehovah  has  appointed.  The  king  of  all  the  earth  will, 
accordingly,  have  two  names  in  that  day,  because  this 
chapter  here  gives  him  two  names :  he  will  be  called 
Jehovah,  and  he  will  be  called  Jehovah's  King.  Jehovah 
will  be  king  over  all  the  earth,  and  all  nations  will  go  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  worship  the  King  of  Jehovah.  If  the 
question  here  must  be  met  how  this  king,  who  is,  as  Aben 
Ezra  takes  it,  the  Messiah,  can  be  both  Jehovah  and 
Jehovah's  King,  it  involves  nearly  all  the  difficulties  of 
the  other  question.  How  can  Jesus  be  called  both  God 
and  God's  Son  ?  Such  chapters  are  not  very  safe  places 
for  unitarian  controversialists. 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  i8l 

But  we  must  take  the  verse  by  itself,  and  find  what 
Unitarians  can  fairly  make  out  of  it.  In  that  day  Jehovah 
will  be  one,  and  his  name  one;  and  Unitarians  understand 
it  that  then  no  Divine  Trinity  will  be  acknowledged,  but 
that  the  unitarian  creed  of  the  unity  will  be  universally 
accepted.  This  prophecy  assures  the  Jew  that  his  simple 
view  of  the  Divine  unity  will  prevail  through  all  the  world 
m  the  end,  and  his  present  prejudice  against  the  Trinity 
will  then  be  justified.  If  God  will  finally  be  known 
among  all  nations  by  one  name,  it  is  an  interesting  ques- 
tion, What  will  that  name  be  ?  The  common  answer 
among  the  Jews  is,  it  will  be  the  four-lettered  name 
Jehovah.  But  this  name  must  carry  with  it  the  other 
two  names,  equally  essential,  equally  glorious,  and  equally 
perfect  with  itself,  the  Jah  and  the  I-will-be-that-I-will-be, 
the  one  at  its  right  hand,  the  other  at  its  left ;  and  there 
is  no  other  single  name  that  has  such  a  thorough  trinita- 
rian  stamp  on  it  as  this  name  has.  The  word  Trinity 
itself  would  fail  infinitely  from  speaking  with  such  power 
for  the  truth  and  mystery  of  the  Trinity  as  this  holy  name 
does.  Yes,  when  Unitarianism  becomes  the  creed  of  all 
the  world,  it  would  be  better  that  God  be  known  by  the 
name  Trinity  than  by  the  name  Jehovah,  because  that 
term,  as  being  of  Latin  origin,  carries  no  such  effulgence 
of  the  mystery  and  likeness  of  the  Trinity  as  this  last 
name  does.  Neither  of  the  Divine  names  which  stand  at 
the  head  of  the  decalogue,  neither y,?/^^^7a/^  nor  Elohim,  is 
suitable  for  an  age  of  universal  Unitarianism.  The  better 
way  would  be  to  go  beyond  Moses  back  among  the 
patriarchs,  and  accept  their  El,  or  their  Shaddai,  or  their 
Eloah,  because  there  is  no  plurality  in  either  of  these 
names.  Or,  if  it  be  preferable  to  march  forward  from 
Moses,  rather  than  backward,  Unitarianism  can  be  just  as 
well  accommodated  in  the  New  Testament  as  among  the 

i6 


1 82  GENERAL    REVIEW, 

patriarchs,  because  both  Kurios  and  Theos  are  always  of 
the  singular  number  when  they  are  names  for  God,  and 
they  never  appear  in  the  plural  in  Christian  literature, 
except  to  designate  inferior  beings,  and,  generally,  false 
gods  or  idols.  A  triumphant  unitarianism  ought  to  have 
the  right  motto  blazi'ng  on  its  flag ;  and  the  Jews  propose 
the  motto,  "  Hear,  O  Israel !"  etc.;  but  let  it  be  inscribed 
there  in  Greek,  or  in  Latin,  or  in  English, — in  any  other 
language  than  the  original  Hebrew.  In  English  it  is. 
Hear,  O  Israel :  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord ;  in  Latin, 
Audi,  Israel,  Doininus  Dens  nostcr,  Dominus  unus  est ; 
and  in  Greek,  as  it  is  found  in  the  New  Testament  (Mark 
xii.  29),  ^' Axooz,  'Iffparjl,  hbpioq  6  Oeck; rj/j.u>v,  Jiupcoq  elc;  itrrt. 
In  these  three  versions  everything  completely  disappears 
from  it  which  Trinitarians  might  use  as  a  support  to  their 
creed.  Here  neither  Z^r^,  nor  Dominus,  nor  Kurios  pre- 
sents any  such  picture  of  Three  in  One  as  the  word  Jeho- 
vah does.  Here  the  corresponding  words  God,  Dens,  and 
Theos  have  no  such  plurality  as  the  holy  name  Elohim 
has,  but  the  moment  either  of  them  is  changed  into  the 
plural  it  becomes  blackened  with  the  abominations  of 
idolatry.  No  one  of  these  versions  suggests  of  itself  that 
the  motto  is  really  another  Epiurihus  unuin, — out  of  more, 
one — with  three  persons,  one  essence — more  in  one,  and 
one  in  more;  and  there  is  possibly  no  language  except 
the  Hebrew  that  can  set  both  the  plurality  and  the  unity 
in  this  motto,  and  suggest  that  it  is  really  another  E  plu- 
ribus  unum,  the  plurality  indicating  the  need  that  it  be 
followed  by  the  unity,  and  the  unity  at  the  end  being  the 
stamp  covering  the  plurality.  The  motto  may  go  on  the 
flag  of  unitarianism  in  either  of  these  languages;  but  the 
Hebrew  will  not  suit.  The  Greek  translation,  as  it  is 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  will  suit  admirably;  but  the 
Hebrew  appears  to  be  protesting  that  it  was  made  to  be 
spoken  by  a  trinitarian  people. 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  183 

Here  another  suggestion  comes  in,  that  in  that  day 
when  the  Lord  will  be  one,  and  his  name  one,  the  name 
may  be  neither  the  tetragrammatic  name,  nor  Elohim, 
nor  any  peculiarly  patriarchal  name  for  God,  but  it  maybe 
a  new  name  ;  and,  while  it  is  new,  -it  may  have  a  wonderful 
similarity  to  some  old  name.  The  prophets  predicted  the 
time  when  the  Lord  would  call  his  people  by  a  new  name.* 
Matthew  has  one  verse  which  has  given  commentators  a 
vast  amount  of  trouble;  it  is  in  his  account  of  Jesus  as 
follows:  "He  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Naza- 
reth :  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the 
prophets,  He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene."  The  Jews 
have  always  given  Jesus  the  distinction  of  the  Nazarene, 
or,  to  conform  more  closely  to  the  Hebrew,  the  Notscri. 
Every  student  of  the  Talmud  knows  how  common  it  is  in 
rabbinical  literature  to  connect  Notseri  with  the  name 
of  Jesus. f  The  difficulty  is  to  find  any  prophet  that  has 
ever  used  the  term  Notseri,  or  has  applied  it  either  to  the 
Lord  or  to  the  Messiah.  The  list  of  names  which  was 
given  to  Moses  at  Horeb  after  the  worship  of  the  golden 
calf  again  comes  to  our  mind,  and  we  may  search  through 
it  for  the  particular  name  which  will  be  most  suitable  for 
that  future  day  when  all  men  shall  know  the  Lord.  At- 
tend now  to  the  list  as  we  pass  over  it :  "  And  he  called 
(proclaimed),  Jehovah,  Jehovah,  El,  merciful  and  gra- 
cious, long-suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth, 
keeping" — here  is  the  very  word  Notser — "  keeping  mercy 
for  thousands,"  the  Notser  o{  mercy  for  the  thousandth 


»  Isaiah  Ixv.  15. 

f  Notice  the  reference  which  the  Talmud  makes  to  the  first  day  of  the 
week  as  the  Yom  Notseri,  the  day  of  the  Nazarene :  13    NOiSnn   31   con 

— Abodah  Zarah,  comment  on  the  second  text  from  the  Mishna  in  the 
first  part. 


184  GENERAL   REVIEW, 

generation.  This  is  the  old  name.  Now  add  to  it  the 
smallest  letter  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  which  is  often 
done  with  such  words,  and  you  set  it  in  a  more  emphatic 
form,  or  you  give  it  the  meaning,  My  Keeper;  and,  behold, 
it  is  now  precisely  the*  new  name  Notseri.  It  is  now  as 
near  to  the  old  name  as  it  can  be  to  be  a  new  name,  and 
it  is  as  near  to  a  new  name  as  it  can  be  to  be  an  old  name. 
It  suffers  the  slightest  possible  change,  to  be  any  change. 
Now  go  back  and  make  the  slightest  possible  change  in  the 
Masoretic  mark  under  the  first  letter  oi ihQvtrh proclaimed, 
and  the  text  becomes  this:  And  he  shall  call — Notseri; 
he  shall  be  called  Notseri ;  he  shall  be  called  Jehovah, 
Jehovah,  El,  merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  abun- 
dant in  goodness  and  truth  ; — and,  in  addition  to  all  these, 
Notseri,  my  keeper  of  mercy  to  the  thousandth  generation ; 
or,  with  a  higher  emphasis,  the  keeper  of  mercy  to  the 
thousandth  generation.  The  Masorites  make  the  first 
letter  of  the  word  Notser  here  remarkably  large  ;  they 
make  it  much  larger  than  any  other  letter  in  this  list  of 
Divine  names,  as  if  it  is  a  remarkable  word,  as  if  a  new 
era  might  open  up  from  it,  as  if  the  hopes  of  the  world 
might  hang  on  it.  There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  in  that  glorious  day  when  the  Lord  shall  be  King 
over  all  the  earth,  and  when  the  Lord  shall  be  one,  and 
his  name  one,  there  will  be  no  one  name  for  Jehovah 
more  appropriate  than  this  Notseri  ;  there  will  be  no  one 
name  for  the  universal  King  the  Messiah  better  than  this 
Notseri  ;  there  will  be  no  new  name  by  which  to  desig- 
nate all  the  converts  to  the  genuine  principles  of  the 
ancient  Judaism  more  appropriate  than  this  Notseri ; 
there  will  be  no  one  name  by  which  to  designate  the  true 
worshipers  of  the  God  of  Israel  in  all  lands  more  appro- 
priate than  this  Notseri ;  because  it  will  then  still  mean 
my  keeper  of  mercy  to  the  thousandth  generation,  and 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  185 

the  generation  will  then  be  present  which  Abraham  saw 
at  a  great  distance  in  the  future ;  and,  moreover,  it  will 
still  be  the  designation  of  J&sus  the  Notseri,  the  prophet 
of  Nazareth,  and  of  his  followers.  You  make  a  good 
choice  if  you  accept  Notseri  or  Nazarene  for  the  name, 
in  that  great  day  when  Jehovah  shall  be  one,  and  his 
name  one. 

I  imagine  you  smiling,  my  learned  rabbi,  a*  this  speci- 
men of  light  argumentation,  for  I  am  sure  you  will  call  it 
light  and  poorly  adapted  to  make  any  impression  on  an 
educated  Jew  :  I  will,  therefore,  briefly  dismiss  this  fourth 
objection  with  a  more  solid  suggestion.  You  will  read 
with  me  a  passage  from  Paul,  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians:  "Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  have 
delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father;  when 
he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule  and  all  authority  and 
power.  For  he  must  reign,  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies 
under  his  feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is 
death.  For  he  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet.  But 
when  he  saith,  all  things  are  put  under  him,  it  is  manifest 
that  he  is  excepted,  which  did  put  all  things  under  him. 
And  when  all  things  shall  be  subdued  unto  him,  then 
shall  the  Son  also  himself  be  subject  unto  him  that  put  all 
things  under  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all."  The 
text  is  furnished  by  Zechariah,  and  here  is  the  comment- 
ary from  Paul,  and  there  is  no  depth  in  the  text  that  is 
not  reached  by  this  commentary ;  and  both  need  only  to 
be  fully  understood  to  be  found  entirely  consistent. 

When  the  publication  of  our  letters  in  the  Israelite 
closed.  Dr.  Wise  honored  us  with  a  brief  review,  which  I 
am  pleased  here  to  reproduce  in  full.     It  reads : 

"In  the  discussion  between  Rev.  Dr.  Guinzburg,  of 
Boston,  and  M.  R.  M.,  on  the  unity  or   trinity  of  the 

16* 


1 86  GEAEKAL    REVIEW, 

Deity,  one  important  point,  it  appears  to  us,  has  not 
been  touched  upon,  viz.,  the  New  Testament  nowhere 
acknowledges  the  trinitarian  doctrine.  Paul,  the  actual 
founder  of  Gentile  Christianity,  acknowledged,  taught, 
and  worshiped  the  One  and  Eternal  God,  who  has 
no  similarity  and  no  connection  whatever  with  the 
Son,  who  in  Paul's  system  is  an  angelic  or  metathronic 
being,  temporarily  appointed  to  a  certain  mission,  viz., 
to  conduct  the  catastrophe  of  the  dying  earth  and 
the  subsequent  day  of  judgment.  We  have  proved  this 
proposition  in  our  '  Origin  of  Christianity,'  by  passages 
from  the  authentic  epistles  of  Paul.  John  the  Evan- 
gelist, who  changed  Paul's  Son  of  God  into  the  mys- 
terious Logos,  which  sounds  like  the  beginning  to  the 
trinitarian  doctrine,  nevertheless  has  Jesus  himself  say, 
'  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee,  the 
only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent' 
(xvii.  3).  Here,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Jesus  him- 
self, he  is  not  the  only  true  God,  but  is  soniebody  sent  by 
the  only  true  God.  The  same  idea  precisely  is  expressed 
in  the  parallel  passages,  John  iii.  34,  v.  19,  etc.  :  the  Son 
is  everywhere  the  subordinate  and  human  messenger  of 
the  Father ;  nowhere  any  sign  of  the  trinitarian  or 
dualistic  doctrine.  If  Paul  and  John  were  Unitarians, 
the  Synoptics  undoubtedly  were. 

"The  first  question,  then,  must  be.  Where  is  the  source 
of  the  trinitarian  doctrine?  If  it  is  not  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, if  even  Paul  and  John  did  not  teach  it,  what  busi- 
■  ness  has  the  Protestant  Christian  to  believe  it  ?  Evidently 
none.  If  John  has  Jesus  proclaim  God  as  the  Afonos  Theos, 
how  can  a  Christian  critic  attempt  to  discover  anywhere 
a  triune  God  ?  The  very  research,  from  the  Christian 
stand-point,  is  heresy  and  blasphemy. 

"Before  anybody  comes  again  to  us  with  the  trinitarian 


WITH  HANDLING    OF  OBJECTIONS.  187 

doctrine,  let  him  show  where  in  the  New  Testament 
that  doctrine  is  taught,  and,  if  he  cannot,  let  him  confess 
it  to  be  a  piece  of  popish  theology." 

Perhaps  I  should  see  in  this  criticism  a  reproof  that  I 
did  not  state  more  explicitly  that  the  Westminster  Cate- 
chism opens  with  the  question  and  answer,  "Are  there 
more  Gods  than  one  ?  There  is  but  one  only  living  and  true 
God."  Dr.  Wise  appears  here  to  give  up  completely  the 
only  ground  on  which  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  has  always 
been  justified  by  the  Jews.  If  Jesus  did  not  call  himself 
the  Son  of  God,  and  was  not  for  this  reason  found  guilty 
of  blasphemy  by  the  Jews,  no  reason  can  be  found  why  he 
was  crucified.  He  once  said  to  the  Jews,  "  Many  good 
works  have  I  showed  you  from  my  Father;  for  which 
of  those  works  do  ye  stone  me?"  They  answered,  "  For 
a  good  work  we  stone  thee  not ;  but  for  blasphemy  ;  and 
because  that  thou,  being  a  man,  makest  thyself  God."  In 
his  trial,  on  the  morning  of  his  crucifixion,  they  all  said,  as 
we  read  in  Luke,  "Art  thou  then  the  Son  of  God  ?  And 
he  said  unto  them,  Ye  say  that  I  am.  And  they  said. 
What  need  we  any  further  witness?  for  we  ourselves  have 
heard  of  his  own  mouth."  The  Talmud  reports  that  he 
was  suspended  because  he  practiced  sorcery  and  seduced 
and  misled  Israel.*     If  these  are  not  the  reasons  for  the 

*A  reference  to  Jesus  is  in  the  Talmud  (Amsterdam  edition)  Sanhe- 
drin,  leaf  43,  of  which  the  following  may  pass  as  a  tolerable  translation  : 

"  Mishna.  They  (the  court)  find  the  accused  innocent,  and  so  release 
him  ;  but  if  not,  he  goes  forth  to  be  stoned,  and  a  herald  goes  before  him 
to  proclaim,  The  person  A,  the  son  of  Mr.  B,  goes  forth  to  be  stoned 
because  he  has  committed  a  certain  crime,  and  the  Messrs.  C  and  D  are 
the  witnesses.  Let  any  one  cognizant  of  his  innocence  come  forth  and 
prove  it  for  him. 

"  Gemara.  Rabbi  Abai  says.  And  it  is  necessary  to  specify  the  very  day, 
and  the  very  hour,  and  the  very  place :  perhaps  there  are  some  who  know, 
and  they  have  come  conspiring  against  him.     And  a  herald  goes  before 


1 88  GENERAL    REVIEW. 

crucifixion,  it  appears  strange  that  there  should  be.  such 
cruelty  without  any  reason.  Dr.  Wise  has,  therefore,  the 
question  left  with  him.  Why  was  Jesus  crucified  ? 

M.  R.  M. 

him.  Indeed  !  Not  at  an  earlier  time  !  And  it  is  delivered  down  to  us, 
that  on  the  preparation  of  the  passover  they  suspended  Jesus,  and  a  her- 
ald went  before  him  forty  days,  (saying)  He  goes  forth  to  be  stoned,  on 
the  ground  that  he  practiced  sorcery  and  seduced  and  misled  Israel.  Let 
any  one  cognizant  of  his  innocence  come  forth  and  prove  it  for  him  :  and 
they  did  not  find  proof  of  his  innocence,  and  they  suspended  him' on  the 
preparation  of  the  passover.  Gnula  says,  And  can  you  think  of  this 
son  of  perverseness  that  his  innocence  is  supposable  ?  A  seducer  he  was  : 
and  the  All-merciful  says,  '  Neither  shalt  thou  spare,  neither  shalt  thou 
conceal  him.*     Deut.  xiii.  8." 

The  above  illustrates  how  Jesus  is,  in  the  Talmud,  "  as  a  root  out  of  a 
dry  ground." 


LET'TER    X. 

My  valued  Correspondent  : — 

I  send  this  letter  to  you  as  the  last  of  the  series ;  and  it 
may  come  to  you  with  the  characteristic  heading,  or  title, 
The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  his  Word,  for  this  reason,  that 
I  have  chosen  the  text  Isaiah  lix.  21,  "  As  for  me,  this  is 
my  covenant  with  them,  saith  the  Lord  3  My  spirit  that 
is  upon  thee,  and  my  words  which  I  have  put  in  thy 
mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out  of  the 
mouth  ef  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed's 
seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from  henceforth  and  forever:"  this 
text  I  have  chosen  to  be  the  central  point  of  my  last 
letter.* 

When  Apollo,  as  heathen  poets  have  given  the  account, 
took  possession  of  the  priestess  to  make  her  the  medium 
of  his  oracles,  her  whole  nature  resisted,  and  she  was 
transferred  powerfully  into  an  unnatural  state;  and  her 
foaming  mouth,  her  frantic  eyes,  and  her  terribly  throbbing 
heart,  indicated  the  presence  of  the  god,  and  the  reality 
of  the  struggle  of  her  body,  mind,  and  will  against  him, 
immediately  before  the  hundred  huge  doors  opened  spon- 

"•■■  Besides  this  passage  from  Isaiah,  the  following  references  will  be  found 
introduced  prominently  in  this  letter  : 

Numbers  xxiv.  2  ;  1  Sam.  xix.  23  ;  Ex.  xxxi.  3 ;  Judges  xiv.  6,  xv.  14 ; 
I  Kings  xviii.  12;  2  Kings  ii.  16;  Ezek.  viii.  3,  xi.  5,  24;  Matt.  iv.  i; 
Isa.  Ixiii.  9-14;  Numbers  xi.  25-29;  Micah  iii.  8;  Zech.  vii.  12;  Hag. 
ii.  5;  I  Sam.  xvi.  13;  2  Sam.  xxiii.  2 ;  Isa.  xxxii.  15;  Joel  ii.  28-31; 
Mark  iii.  29. 

189 


IQO  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  LORD 

taneously,  and  the  sound  of  the  response  commenced.* 
No  one  can  doubt  that  Apollo  is  here  viewed  as  a  sepa- 
rate spirit  subduing  the  human  spirit  :  he  possesses,  in 
all  such  descriptions,  a  distinct  divine  personality.  The 
other  point  which  must  be  carefully  noted  here  is  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  appears  in  the  Bible  in  the  same  clear 
light,  invested  with  a  distinct  Divine  personality.  The 
Holy  Ghost  had  the  same  struggle  with  the  resisting 
human  spirit,  and  achieved  more  wonderful  victories. 
The  prophets  often  passed  into  a  state  of  actual  insanity, 
or,  if  it  was  not  this,  it  bordered  very  closely  on  it.  The 
Spirit  of  God  came  on  Balaam :  he  fell  down  and  in- 
stantly lost  all  strength,  but  his  eyes  were  open  to  the 
vision.  He  hated  Israel  in  his  heart,  and  he  had  traveled 
a  long  distance  under  the  influence  of  a  most  intense  de- 
sire to  utter  a  curse,  but  he  could  not  do  it.  His  eyes 
were  dazzled  with  the  reward  of  immense  riches  and 
honor,  which  had  been  promised  to  him  if  he  could  curse 
the  people;  but  the  Spirit  of  God  held  his  spirit  under 
perfect  control ;  his  wicked  will  was  overruled,  his  ava- 
rice, selfishness,  and  malignity  were  defeated,  his  body  fell 
helpless  at  his  own  heathen  altars,  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
made  his  tongue  the  organ  of  as  rich  blessings  as  ever  fell 
on  Israel.  His  four  speeches  at  that  time  are  among  the 
most  beautiful  specimens  of  Hebrew  poetry,  and  his  pre- 
dictions of  the  extermination  awaiting  Amalek,  the  deso- 
lation which  should  reign  at  Petra,  the  capital  of  Edom, 

"*  "  At,  Phaebi  nondum  patiens,  immanis  in  antro 
Bacchatur  vates,  magnum  si  pectore  possit 
Excussisse  deum  :  taiito  magis  ille  fatigat 
Os  rabidum,  fera  corda  domans,  fingitque  premendo. 
Ostia  jamque  domiis  patuere  ingcntia  centum 
Sponte  sua,  vatisque  ferunt  responsa  per  auras.*' 

Virgil. 


AND  HIS    WORD. 


191 


through  thousands  of  years,  and  the  immiscibility  of  the 
Jews  among  the  nations,  are  justly  classed  among  the 
dazzling  wonders  of  the  Bible. 

A  similar  prodigy  occurred  in  the  life  of  Saul  the  king. 
He  was  pursuing  after  David  to  take  his  life;  but  when  he 
came  near  the  place  where  Samuel  was  standing  at  the  head 
of  the  school  of  the  prophets,  the  persecuting  will  van- 
ished from  his  heart,  and  he  became  a  prophet.  He  had 
sent  three  sets  of  messengers  to  that  spot  against  David ; 
but  the  Spirit  of  God  had  come  on  them,  and  in  becom- 
ing prophets  they  had  become  utterly  incapable  to  exe- 
cute his  commission.  He  himself  now  followed :  the 
same  Spirit  overpowered  him,  and  in  the  presence  of 
Samuel  he  uttered  prophecies  and  praises.  He  threw  off 
his  garments,  and  in  this  strange  nakedness  he  lay  there 
the  whole  day  and  the  whole  night.  His  mind  must  have 
ceased  to  act  through  the  bodily  senses,  and  all  conscious- 
ness of  personal  dignity  must  have  left  him.  Two  men 
are  seen  lying  helpless  at  the  feet  of  the  Spirit  of  God  : 
one  is  Balaam,  the  other  is  Saul ;  and  not  only  are  their 
bodies  overpowered,  but  in  each  one  a  wicked  will  is 
chained,  a  wicked  purpose  is  deranged,  and  their  false 
tongues  are  compelled  to  be  the  organs  of  celestial  music 
and  prophecy  :  and  this  all  brings  the  Spirit  of  God 
clearly  out  to  view  as  the  superior  Divine  personal  agent. 
Heathen  poets  could  not  tell  it  in- plainer  language,  that 
Apollo  was  the  superior  divine  spirit  or  person  who  took 
possession  of  the  faculties  and  senses  of  the  priestess. 

Ingenuity  in  the  useful  arts  is  one  of  the  blessings  shed 
down  on  men  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Lord  said  to 
Moses  in  relation  to  a  certain  workman,  "And  I  have 
filled  him  with  the  spirit  of  God ;"  and  what  did  this  "mean? 
It  meant  that  the  model  of  the  whole  tabernacle  should 
be  distinctly  impressed  on  his  mind,  and  that  he  should 


192 


THE   SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 


have  the  ability  to  finish  all  the  pares  according  to  the 
Divine  design.  It  meant  that  the  various  materials 
should  be  brought  to  his  hand, — the  gold,  silver,  brass, 
wood,  and  precious  stones,  the  blue,  purple,  scarlet,  fine 
linen,  and  goats'  hair, — and  he  should  form  them  into  the 
sanctuary.  And  all  its  parts,  the  mercy-seat,  the  chest 
inclosing  the  decalogue,  the  cherubim,  the  table,  the 
candlestick,  the  gorgeous  curtains,  the  two  altars,  all  the 
measurements,  the  garments  of  the  priests,  the  splendid 
dress  of  the  high  priest,  all  should  correspond  perfectly 
to  that  design  which  had  been  formed  in  the  thoughts 
of  heaven.  He  should  deserve  to  be  called  a  Divine 
artificer.  The  Spirit  of  God  should  suggest  to  him  and 
strengthen  him,  and  in  all  the  work  he  should  be  the 
accomplished  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Spirit. 

The  strengthening  of  a  man  for  a  wondrous  achieve- 
ment was  another  gift  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  When  the 
young  lion  roared  against  Samson,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  mightily  upon  him,  and  the  immediate  result  was 
that  he  tore  the  beast  to  pieces  as  if  it  was  only  a  kid  that 
he  had  in  his  hands.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Spirit  again 
came  upon  him  when  his  own  people  had  bound  him, 
and  the  cords  were  like  flax  touched  by  the  flame,  and  a 
thousand  Philistines  fell  dead  under  his  arm.  How  often 
is  it  recorded,  in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  came  upon  some  one,  and  then  he  had  such 
strength  that  no  opposing  host  could  stand  before  him  in 
battle  ! 

Distance  in  space  never  separated  any  object  from  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  it  was  believed  that  in 
some  instances  the  hand  of  the  Spirit  had  miraculously 
and  instantly  transferred  a  prophet  from  one  point  to  a 
very  distant  and  inaccessible  place.  The  good  friend  said 
to  Elijah  that  he  now  knew  where  he  was,  and  he  might 


AND  HIS   WORD. 


193 


go  and  report  to  the  king  where  he  had  found  him  ;  but, 
while  he  was  going,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  might  carry 
him  away  to  some  distant  point  where  no  one  in  Israel 
could  find  him,  and  so  the  king's  search  would  be  useless, 
and  the  report  would  only  bring  a  friend  into  difiiculty  with 
the  king.  The  sons  of  the  prophets  who  witnessed  the 
ascension  of  Elijah  called  it  the  wonderful  work  of  the 
Spirit,  and  they  insisted  on  their  theory  that  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  might  have  taken  him  up  out  of  their  sight  and 
let  him  down  on  some  distant  mountain  where  it  might 
be  in  their  power  to  find  him.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  the  prophet  Ezekiel  in  Chaldea,  and  raised 
him  up  and  transported  him  between  the  earth  and  the 
heaven,  and  over  rivers,  and  from  country  to  country, 
until,  in  the  visions  of  God,  he  was  standing  in  Jerusalem; 
and  there  he  passed  through  different  gates  at  the  temple; 
he  stood  in  secret  chambers  where  heathen  abominations 
were  going  on  ;  he  saw  twenty-five  men  with  their  backs 
to  the  holy  temple,  and  their  faces  toward  the  east,  in 
the  actual  worship  of  the  sun  ;  he  saw  the  godly  patriots 
separated  by  a  mark  from  the  idolaters,  and  the  six  angels 
inflicting  unsparing  destruction  on  the  latter ;  he  saw  the 
same  cherubim  and  subordinate  living  wheels  which  had 
been  revealed  to  him  in  Chaldea  ;  he  saw  the  twenty-five 
worst  men  there,  in  whom  the  moral,  evils  of  the  city 
centred ;  he  saw  one  of  these  worst  men  fall  dead  before 
the  word  of  the  Lord ;  he  saw  the  glory  of  the  Lord  rising 
up  from  the  temple  and  passing  eastward  to  stand  over 
the  Mount  of  Olives :  and  then  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
carried  him  back  to  Chaldea  and  set  him  down  among 
the  captives,  to  whom  he  narrated  all  these  things  in 
Jerusalem  which  the  vision  had  revealed  to  him.  It  is 
said  that  Jesus  was  led  by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to 
be  tempted  of  the  devil ;  and  in  that  temptation  he  went 
I  17 


194 


THE  SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 


to  Jerusalem  and  actually  stood  on  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  where  it  was  suggested  to  him  to  cast  himself 
down.  The  transfer  of  Ezekiel  from  Chaldea  to  Jerusa- 
lem doubtless  illustrates  the  transfer  of  Jesus  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  into  the  wilderness  and  to  the  pinnacle  of  the  tem- 
ple :  the  two  are  equally  inexplicable  ;  they  both  bear  the 
same  miraculous  character ;  they  exhibit  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  over  flesh  and  blood ;  they  exhibit  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  to  loosen  the  chains  that  bind  the  soul  down 
to  the  body  ;  they  illustrate  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  to 
change  intervening  space  into  nothing,  in  an  instant  or 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 

Moses  wrote  his  five  books  for  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
likewise  this  Spirit  is  the  true  author  of  the  Scriptures  of 
the  prophets  and  of  the  Psalms.  While  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation is  called  pre-eminently  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit,  it  should  always  be  remembered  that  the  legisla- 
tion of  Moses  was  in  a  high  sense  a  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit.  Many  persons  may  be  surprised  to  find  how  often 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  mentioned  as  the  guide  of  Moses  and  the 
people  in  the  wilderness.  Let  the  eye  run  over  the  follow- 
ing passage  among  the  last  prophecies  of  Isaiah  :  "In  his 
love  and  in  his  pity  he  redeemed  them ;  and  he  bare 
them,  and  carried  them  all  the  days  of  old.  But  they 
rebelled,  and  vexed  his  holy  Spirit :  therefore  he  was 
turned  to  be  their  enemy,  and  he  fought  against  them. 
Then  he  remembered  the  days  of  old,  Moses,  and  his  peo- 
ple, saying.  Where  is  he  that  brought  them  up  out  of  tlie 
sea  with  the  shepherd  of  his  flock  ?  where  is  he  that  put 
his  holy  Spirit  within  him  ?  that  led  them  by  the  right 
hand  of  Moses  with  his  glorious  arm,  dividing  the  water 
before  them,  to  make  himself  an  everlasting  name?  that 
led  them  through  the  deep,  as  a  horse  in  the  wilderness, 
that  they  should  not  stumble  ?     As  a  beast  goeth  down 


AND  HIS    WORD. 


195 


into  the  valley,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  caused  him  to  rest; 
so  didst  thou  lead  thy  people,  to  make  thyself  a  glorious 
name."  And  here  let  it  be  particularly  noticed  how  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  mentioned  three  times  in  this  extract,  and 
how  clear  it  is  that  this  Spirit  was  acknowledged  as  the 
Divine  guide  of  Moses  and  the  flock  of  Israel  in  the  wil- 
derness. The  Lord  at  one  time  descended  in  a  cloud 
and  took  of  the  Spirit  that  was  on  Moses  and  made  the 
seventy  elders  sharers  of  the  same ;  and  they  all  began  to 
prophesy,  and  continued  prophets  for  a  single  day ;  and 
there  were  two  in  the  camp,  distant  from  the  tabernacle, 
that  shared  the  same  supernatural  inspiration,  and  pro- 
phesied with  wonderful  effect.  Moses  was  indignant  that 
any  one  should  think  that  they  ought  to  be  restrained  out 
in  the  camp,  and  his  highest  wish  was  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  might  become  prophets  under  the  power  of  the 
same  Spirit.  That  was  a  day  of  the  wonderful  power 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  wilderness ;  it  was  a  day  when  a 
very  strong  light  from  the  upper  sanctuary  flashed  upon 
the  tabernacle.  That  good  day  was  gratefully  mentioned 
a  thousand  years  afterwards,  when  Nehemiah  introduced 
the  language  into  his  prayer  and  confession,  "Thou 
gavest  also  thy  good  spirit  to  instruct  them,  and  withheld- 
est  not  thy  manna  from  their  mouth,  and  gavest  them 
water  for  their  thirst."  The  Spirit,  the  manna,  and  the 
water  from  the  rock  were  three  gifts  in  the  wilderness ; 
but  the  Spirit,  as  being  of  the  highest  value,  deserved  to 
be  mentioned  first. 

The  later  Scriptures  rest  on  the  same  basis  with  the 
books  of  Mftses,  as  being  the  productions  of  the  Spirit 
of  God.  One  prophet  writes,  "But  truly  I  am  full  of 
power  by  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and  of 
might,  to  declare  unto  Jacob  his  transgression,  and  to 
Israel  his  sin."     One  of  the  last  prophets  in  Israel  de- 


196  THE   SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 

clares  the  sins  of  the  fathers  and  the  consequent  judg- 
ments:  "Yea,  they  made  their  hearts  as  an  adamant 
stone,  lest  they  should  hear  the  law  and  the  words  which 
the  Lord  of  hosts  hath  sent  in  his  spirit  by  the  former 
prophets  :  therefore  came  a  great  wrath  from  the  Lord  of 
hosts."  How  fearful  was  this  guilt  resting  on  the  people, 
that  they  had  refused  to  hear  the  words  which  God's 
Spirit  had  brought  to  them  by  the  prophets  !  The  same 
Divine  words  are  now  before  us  in  the  prophets  which  we 
daily  read.  Another  of  these  last  prophets  mentions  the 
Spirit  in  the  strongest  language  of  encouragement  :  the 
Lord  speaks  through  him:  "According  to  the  word  that 
I  covenanted  with  you  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt,  so 
my  spirit  remaineth  among  you:  fear  ye  not."  This 
verse  of  Haggai  may  be  described  as  the  seal  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  on  the  first  Scriptures  and  the  last,  on  both  the 
books  of  Moses  and  the  writings  of  the  prophets  who 
closed  the  canon  after  the  captivity. 

And  if  some  special  seal  of  the  Spirit  ought  to  be  found 
in  the  middle  of  the  volume  between  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  if  the  Psalms  of  David  in  the  middle  ought  to 
have  a  separate  and  peculiar  seal,  then  look  at  the  life  of 
David  where  it  begins,  "Samuel  took  the  horn  of  oil, 
and  anointed  him  in  the  midst  of  his  brethren  :  and  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  David  from  that  day  for- 
ward:" and  next  look  at  the  closing  piece  of  all  the 
writings  of  David,  where  the  verse  stands  at  the  head, 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  and  his  word  was 
in  my  tongue." 

The  seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  found  in  the  Bible,  cer- 
tifying it  as  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice;  and 
then  the  most  glorious  day  in  the  distant  future  was  iden- 
tified as  the  day  of  the  Spirit.  The  sound  of  desolation, 
the  vision  of  darkness,  might  be  awfully  spread  over  dis- 


AND  HIS   IVORD.  I97 

tant  future  ages ;  but  often  the  prophet's  voice  reached 
such  a  word  as  the  word  until,  and  just  there  the  desola- 
tion came  to  a  pause,  and  a  new  hope  began  to  blaze ;  it 
was  the  until  of  Isaiah, — ^^  Until  the  spirit  be  poured  upon 
us  from  on  high,  and  the  wilderness  be  a  fruitful  field." 
All  the  future  is  vast  fields  of  wilderness  and  death  until 
the  shower  of  the  Spirit  falls  on  it,  and  instantly  it  all 
rises  in  roses  and  blossoms.  Behold  the  picture  of  the 
blessedness  in  the  last  days,  which  one  of  the  prophets 
gives:  "And  it  shall  come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will 
pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh  ;  and  your  sons  and 
your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  old  men  shall  dream 
dreams,  your  young  men  shall  see  visions :  and  also 
upon  the  servants  and  upon  the  handmaids  in  those  days 
will  I  pour  out  my  spirit.  And  I  will  show  wonders  in 
the  heavens  and  in  the  earth,  blood,  and  fire,  and  pillars 
of  smoke.  The  sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness,  and 
the  moon  into  blood,  before  the  great  and  the  terrible  day 
of  the  Lord  come."  The  blessed  clay  will  be  when  all, 
young  and  old,  elevated  and  humble,  will  be  the  subjects 
of  the  mighty  influence  of  the  Spirit,  and  when  young 
persons  will  rise  to  a  higher  degree  of  spiritual  discern- 
ment and  assurance  than  the  aged.  It  was  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  which  Samuel  said  should  come  upon  the  young 
Saul  and  turn  him  into  another  man.  The  Spirit  now 
makes  his  own  truth  effectual,  and  changes  the  wicked 
man  into  a  new  man :  he  brings  the  gift  of  a  new  heart 
into  our  world,  and  it  will  be  his  work  to  change  the 
wicked  race  of  Adam  into  a  holy  people,  and  our  blasted 
earth  into  another  earth.  The  future  has  no  hope  for 
mankind  except  what  the  Spirit  of  God,  enthroned  in 
the  mighty  future,  gives  it. 

The  verse  of  Isaiah  which  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
this  letter  now  resumes  its  place  in  our  thoughts,  that 

17* 


iqS  the  spirit  of  the  lord 

the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  which  he  had  put  within  Israel, 
and  his  words  which  he  had  put  within  their  mouth, 
should  not  depart  out  of  their  mouth,  nor  out  of  the 
mouth  of  their  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  their  seed's 
seed,  forever.  If  the  question  rises,  Who  is  this  Spirit? 
the  answer  is  furnished :  He  is  the  Spirit  compelling 
Balaam  to  chant  celestial  encomiums  when  the  malignant 
desire  which  filled  the  heart  was  to  pour  forth  foul  male- 
dictions, and  keeping  the  envious  Saul  prostrate  and  ex- 
posed a  whole  day  and  a  whole  night  on  the  ground  ;  he 
is  the  Spirit  who  sows  the  seeds  of  the  useful  and  orna- 
mental arts  in  human  intellects,  and  strengthens  the  hero 
for  marvelous  achievement,  and,  with  the  power  to  anni- 
hilate distance,  brings  the  two  poles  of  our  planet,  and 
heaven  and  earth,  together  in  a  moment ;  he  is  the 
Spirit  who  gave  his  words  to  Moses  and  the  prophets  to 
be  written  in  majestic  prose,  and  to  David  to  be  written 
in  enchanting  song,  and  to  whom  hope  looks  exclusively 
for  the  spiritual  regeneration  of  our  world.  This  Spirit 
and  God's  word  are  placed  together  in  this  text.  They 
are  placed  together  in  the  mouth  of  Israel.  They  are 
placed  together  in  the  mouth  of  the  seed  of  Israel.  They 
are  placed  together  in  the  mouth  of  the  seed  of  the  seed 
of  Israel,  till  the  end  of  all  ages.  God  has  joined  them 
together ;  let  them  never  be  separated.  Never  let  the 
Israel  arise  believing  in  the  Spirit  of  God  but  not  believ- 
ing in  the  word, — rejecting  the  law  and  the  prophets ; 
and  never  let  the  Israel  arise  believing  in  the  written  law, 
the  holy  Scriptures,  but  not  believing  in  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  the  heart  has  here  the 
first  place  in  the  creed,  and  the  written  word,  sounding 
from  the  reader's  lips,  has  the  second  place  in  the  creed ; 
and  this  twofold  creed  must  remain  forever  the  creed  on 
the  lips  of  the  Jews.     It  would  be  an  anomalous  and  use- 


AND   HIS    WORD. 


199 


less  creed  which  embraced  the  written  word  but  rejected 
the  Divine  Spirit  the  Author.  This  Spirit  is  made  the 
capital  figure  in  the  creed  of  Israel  as  long  as  the  earth 
stands.  And  while  the  law  and  the  prophets  are  read  in 
all  the  synagogues  every  Saturday,  and  this  is  mentioned 
as  a  proof  that  the  words  of  God  have  not  departed,  and 
cannot  depart,  from  the  mouth  of  Israel,  it  deserves  to  be 
marked  as  a  fearful  apostasy  from  the  true  faith  if  the 
Divine  Spirit  has  been  obliterated  from  his  place  at  the 
head  of  the  creed,  while  the  written  word,  the  law  and  the 
prophets,  are  still  retained  sacredly  in  the  reader's  mouth 
and  the  service  of  the  synagogue. 

If  the  special  reasons  are  demanded  why  the  Holy 
Spirit  must  always  be  retained  on  the  lips  of  the  true 
worshipers  of  God,  and  must  never  be  expunged  from 
their  confession  of  faith,  the  first  reason  is  that  the 
church  needs  the  honest  man,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  creates 
this  man.  The  noblest  man  in  the  world  is  the  man 
who  is  honest  in  his  relations  to  God.  Dishonesty  in 
religion  is  universal  among  men.  They  can  appear  per- 
fectly honest  towards  all  their  neighbors  with  infinitely 
greater  ease  than  they  can  be  truly  honest  towards  God. 
They  have  more  deceit  in  the  service  which  they  give  to 
God  than  in  any  other  service.  No  selfishness  is  so  abomi- 
nable as  selfishness  in  religion.  No  lying  is  so  abominable 
as  the  lying  to  God  ;  and  men  generally  are  as  ready  for 
such  lying  as  was  the  old  serpent  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  needed  to  take  the  religious  lying  out 
of  our  nature,  and  create  a  holy  love  of  the  truth.  Re- 
ligious prejudices  are  the  most  blinding  that  exist.  If 
mathematics  had  the  same  close  cgnnection  with  our  de- 
praved nature  that  religion  has,  and  if  our  prejudices  were 
as  perverse  and  blinding  in  mathematics  as  they  are  in 
religion,   it  would    indeed   be'  wonderful  to   know  what 


200  THE  SriRTT  OF  THE  LORD 

different  arithmetics  we  would  have,  and  what  conflicting 
systems  of  algebra  and  geometry;  and  probably  a  horrible 
Inquisition  would  have  flourished  for  a  century,  founded 
on  the  question  whether  the  three  angles  of  a  triangle  are 
together  equal  to  two  right  angles. 

I  have  had  some  knowledge  by  personal  experience  of 
the  unfairness  of  Universalists  in  their  arguments  before 
the  public,  by  which  they  uphold  their  principles  that  all 
punishment  of  sin  must  cease  at  the  moment  of  death. 
A  Universalist  opens  a  Greek  dictionary  to  search  for 
the  word  Gehenna,  and  he  will  find  three  items:  i,  the 
word  was  originally  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  a  valley  lying 
southward  from  Jerusalem,  where  children  once  passed 
through  the  fire  to  Moloch  and  the  filth  of  the  city  was 
received ;  2,  it  came  to  stand  for  an  infamous  burial,  or 
an  infamous  exposure  after  death ;  3,  it  assumed  the 
specific  meaning  of  the  world  of  punishment  and  shame 
where  the  wicked  dwell  after  death  ;  and  this  is  its  mean- 
ing through  the  New  Testament :  and  this  Universalist 
will  read  these  first  two  items  to  an  audience  and  suppress 
the  third  ;  he  will  make  the  impression  that  all  that  he 
finds  in  the  dictionary  is  that  it  is  the  literal  Valley  of 
Hinnom  and  expresses  only  an  infamous  retribution  on 
earth.  If  it  was  the  word  Jcrusalevi,  he  could  act  with 
more  honesty.  He  could  read  such  a  definition  as  the 
following  from  any  dictionary:  Jerusalem, — i,  a  city  of 
the  Jebusites,  of  which  David  took  possession  to  make  it 
his  capital ;  2,  a  name  for  the  church  of  God  on  earth  ; 
3,  a  name  of  the  church  in  heaven,  as  in  the  stanza, — 

"  Jerusalem,  my  happy  home, 
Name  ever  dear  to  me  ! 
Wlien  shall  my  labors  liave  an  end 
In  joy,  and  peace,  and  thee?" 

and  he  would  here  make  the  third  item  just  as  prominent 


AND  HIS    WORD.  201 

as  either  of  the  others.  But  the  word  Gehenna  must 
suffer  the  injustice  of  the  suppression  of  the  third  and 
essential  item,  while  the  greatest  falsehood  that  is  ever 
told  may  be  the  two-thirds  of  the  statement,  with  such  a 
showing  as  if  these  two-thirds  were  the  whole.  This  shows 
how  religious  prejudice  becomes  dishonest.  The  man  is 
determined  to  cast  off  all  fear  of  the  anger  of  God  in 
respect  to  the  future  after  death ;  and  hence  either  he 
cannot  see  the  third  and  essential  item  in  the  definition 
of  the  momentous  word,  or  he  convinces  himself  that  he 
ought  not  to  see  it. 

Dr.  Wise,  in  his  "  Origin  of  Christianity,"  page  30,  ob- 
jects to  the  day  of  the  week  given  for  the  crucifixion  of 
Jesus,  and  he  makes  a  sweeping  statement  that  "the  first 
day  of  the  passover  never  was  on  a  Friday,  and  never 
can  be,  according  to  established  principles  of  the  Jewish 
calendar:"  but  he  certainly  has  not  duly  weighed  this 
statement.  I  suppose  that  a  custom  has  not  permitted  a 
passover  to  begin  on  a  Friday  for  a  thousand  years  and 
more;  but  in  the  age  when  Christianity  had  its  origin 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  had  one  of  their  greatest 
battles  around  this  very  point.  The  Pharisees  had  the 
sheaf  of  the  first-fruits  cut  in  Friday  night  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  sabbath,  to  be  offered  to  the  Lord  the 
next  morning,  and  they  made  the  proceeding  as  public  as 
possible,  to  show  their  contempt  of  the  Sadducees ;  and  in 
every  year,  when  the  sheaf  was  thus  given  to  the  Lord  on 
the  sabbath,  the  first  day  of  the  passover  must  have  been 
a  Friday.  The  Sadducees  contended  that  the  cutting  of 
the  sheaf  in  that  night  was  a  desecration  of  the  sabbath, 
and  that  the  waving  of  the  sheaf  should  always  be  on  the 
morrow  after  the  sabbath,  that  is,  Sunday ;  and  also  the 
first  day  of  pentecost  should  always  be  a  Sunday ;  and 
the  Karaites  hold  the  same  vie  v  with  them  till  the  present 
I* 


202  THE   SPIRIT  OF  THE   LORD 

day.  (See  Jost's  Geschichte  des  Judenthums,  Streitig- 
keiten  zwischen  Pharisiiern  und  Sadd*caern,  with  Men- 
delssohn's Commentary  on  Lev.  xxiii.  2,  and  the  Book 
on  the  Karaites,  dedicated  to  the  Lady  Guinzburg.) 

Doubters  on  the  authority  of  the  New  Testament  have 
pointed  to  a  verse  in  the  second  chapter  of  Luke,  "  And 
this  taking  was  first  made  when  Cyrenius  was  governor  of 
Syria;"  and  they  have  made  a  correct  criticism,  that  if 
the  birth  of  Jesus  was  at  the  time  of  this  taxing  it  could 
not  have  been  before  the  death  of  Herod  the  Great,  as 
is  stated  in  other  places,  because  this  taxation  under  Cyre- 
nius was  after  the  reign  of  Archelaus,  and  fully  nine  years 
after  the  death  of  Herod.  But  the  word  protos,  which  is  in 
this  verse,  is  translated  by  the  word  before  in  John,  first 
chapter  and  thirtieth  verse  ;  and  there  it  governs  the 
genitive  case,  as  it  does  here.  We  read  there,  "  For  he  was 
before  me,"  and,  by  analogy,  it  ought  to  be  translated  here, 
"  This  taxing  was  before  Cyrenius  the  governor  of  Syria." 
Most  clearly,  having  occurred  while  Herod  was  alive,  it  was 
a  taxing  about  ten  years  earlier  than  Cyrenius,  or  the 
famous  taxing  which  he  introduced.  Again  and  again 
learned  Jewish  critics  have  harped  on  this  difficulty,  which 
so  instantly  vanishes.  I  once  saw  it  demonstrated  to  a 
Jew  that  this  same  government  of  the  genitive  by  an  ad- 
jective in  the  superlative  degree  occurs  in  Homer  and 
other  Greek  authors,  and  that  a  correct  knowledge  of 
Greek  syntax  cannot  fail  to  correct  the  mistake  ;  but  he 
became  almost  furious,  as  if  the  whole  fabric  of  Judaism 
would  be  brought  into  fearful  danger  if  he  could  not 
sustain  this  silly  anachronism  against  the  New  Testament. 
What  a  blind  thing  prejudice  is  ! 

A  few  critics  have  a  habit  of  handling  the  four  gospels 
with  enormous  injustice.  They  come  forward  with  some 
fantastic  theory  and  put  the  torture  on  every  dissentient 


AND  HIS    WORD. 


203 


verse  they  meet,  to  get  it  out  of  their  way.  They  lay  paral- 
lel passages  together,  and  count  how  many  more  words 
may  be  in  one  gospel  than  in  the  others  ;  they  raise 
a  difficulty  on  everything  that  one  has  omitted,  and 
if  the  same  story  or  parable  is  found  in  two  gospels  with 
differences  in  the  events  narrated  before  it  or  after  it,  they 
search  with  microscopic  care  for  all  appearances  of  con- 
tradiction ;  if  one  gospel  says  Peter  and  another  says 
Cephas,  surely  there  are  ignorant  people  who  do  not 
know  that  these  words  have  the  same  meaning,  and  they 
may  be  troubled  with  this  as  a  contradiction.  The  true 
view  is  that  the  very  marked  differences  between  the  gos- 
pels furnish  an  unanswerable  argument  that  the  writers  are 
four  independent  witnesses,  and  that  their  testimony  is 
the  truth.  Four  witnesses  may  appear  in  court  and  tell 
completely  the  same  story,  and  their  whole  story  may  be  so 
perfectly  alike  that  every  one  is  convinced  that  they  con- 
sulted together  and  arranged  previously  among  them- 
selves precisely  what  should  be  their  story.  Independent 
witnesses  never  put  the  same  facts  in  precisely  the  same 
language  and  the  same  connection  and  order.  If  the  four 
gospels  had  been  composed  according  to  the  measure 
which  these  critics  apply  to  them,  it  would  have  been 
made  very  clear  that  the  whole  is  the  story  of  one  author, 
and  not  the  stories  of  four  independent  writers.  A  thou- 
sand times  and  more  have  I  written  the  letters  M.  R.  M., 
but  on  no  two  sheets  have  I  ever  written  them  perfectly 
the  same;  and  if  any  note  should  ever  come  to  me  with 
these  letters  perfectly  as  I  once  wrote  them,  they  might 
be  decisive  proof  that  they  were  transcribed  by  careful 
measurement  and  that  I  never  wrote  them.  The  four 
evangelists  ought  to '  be  allowed  to  show  the  same  evi- 
dences of  their  independence  as  are  allowed  to  other 
witnesses  in  court  ]  but  there  cannot  be  such  evidences 


204  THE   SPIRIT  OF   THE  LORD 

without  differences.  All  these  things  show  us  how  strong 
religious  prejudice  becomes  :  it  will  not  read  the  whole 
definition  of  a  word  in  a  dictionary,  it  refuses  to  see  the 
rules  of  Greek  grammar,  and  it  objects  to  the  indispen- 
sable evidences  that  there  was  no  collusion  of  the  evan- 
gelists. Come,  Holy  Spirit,  come,  dispel  from  our  eyes 
the  blindness  of  religious  prejudice  ! 

I  see  Jesus  near  to  Samaria  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem, 
and  one  comes  to  him  and  says,  "Lord,  I  will  follow 
thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
him.  Foxes  have  holes,  and  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ; 
but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head." 
This  answer  indicates  that  there  was  a  wrong  thing  in  his 
motives,  and  that  Jesus  saw  it.  Many  followed  Jesus 
for  the  loaves  and  fishes.  This  man  expected  worldly 
comfort ;  he  expected  to  come  to  a  good  home.  Jesus 
wished  him  to  know  that  humble  poverty  was  all  the 
prospect  his  disciples  had.  This  man  made  the  best 
promise;  but  he  was  not  worthy  to  be  trusted,  he  was 
not  the  man  to  follow  through  poverty  and  death.  He 
loved  his  own  flesh  too  highly.  Many  persons  have 
no  confidence  in  the  conversion  of  Jews  in  our  own 
time.  They  say  that  no  Jew  ever  enters  the  Christian 
church  except  for  support  or  for  a  name,  or  for  some 
object  in  social  life,  or  from  some  other  sinister  mo- 
tive. When  you  find  any  one  who  has  been  thoroughly 
educated  as  a  Jew,  and  embraces  Christianity  and  is  sin- 
cere, you  may  be  sure  you  have  found  a  miracle.  No 
Jew  ever  becomes  a  genuine  Christian  except  under  an 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  is  miraculous.  It  is 
now  easy  to  some  of  them  to  promise  that  they  will 
follow  Jesus  whithersoever  he  goeth,  but  it  is  another 
thing  to  be  sincere ;  and  how  many  of  them  have  some 
other  master  in  their  eye  than  him  who  lived  in  poverty 


AND   HIS    WORD. 


205 


beneath  the  foxes  and  the  birds,  so  that  he  had  not  where 
to  lay  his  head !  The  apostle  Paul  says  "  that  no  man  can 
say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
assuredly  this  is  true  of  one  people;  it  is  true  of  the  Jews: 
no  Jew  becomes  a  genuine  Christian  except  under  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  all  who  do  not  believe  in 
the  Holy  Ghost  are  clearly  consistent  in  denying  that 
there  can  be  any  man  now  on  the  face  of  the  earth  who 
has  been  brought  up  a  strict  Jew  and  is  now  a  sincere 
Christian.  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  come  ;  for  in  thy  absence 
there  is  no  honest  will  to  follow  the  Lord,  through  pov- 
erty and  death,  whithersoever  he  goeth  ! 

At  the  same  time  another  was  nearly  ready  to  follow 
Jesus;  but  he  said,  "Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury 
my  father."  Ah,  there  was  one  thing  holding  him  back. 
His  father  was  still  living.  His  father,  we  must  suppose, 
was 'a  Jew  of  the  strictest  order,  and  hated  the  name 
of  Jesus,  and  could  not  bear  the  thought  that  his  son 
should  become  a  disciple:  the  grief  caused  by  his  son's 
conversion  would  be  overwhelming,  and  he  had  threatened 
to  disinherit  him,  and  ordered  him  never  again  to  enter 
his  house,  if  he  must  follow  Jesus.  The  son  felt  as  if  he 
must  first  see  his  father  buried,  and  then  he  would  follow 
Jesus.  There  are  many  such  Jews  in  our  own  day, — Jews 
who  are  convinced  that  Jesus  is  indeed  the  Messiah  of 
Israel,  but  a  dear  father  must  go  into  his  grave  before 
they  can  be  baptized.  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  come  :  it  is 
only  thy  voice  that  can  ever  call  them  away  effectually 
from  waiting  at  their  fathers'  graves,  and  tufn  their  faces 
to  their  duty  ! 

"And  another  also  said.  Lord,  I  will  follow  thee  ;  but 
let  me  first  go  bid  them  farewell  which  are  at  home  at 
my  house."  Jesus  saw  that  he  had  too  great  a  love  of  his 
friends  at  home,  and  hence  that  solemn  answer  was  given, 

18 


2o6  HIE   SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 

— how  searching  the  ansA\ier,  how  alarming  ! — "No  man 
having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is 
fit  for  the  kingdom  of  God."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  needed 
to  give  men  such  a  love  of  the  truth  and  of  holiness  that 
they  can  leave  all  their  friends  at  home  and  never  look 
back  with  one  tear  of  regret.  A  self-denial  is  required 
which  is  never  properly  learned  except  in  the  school  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Religion  is  utterly  worthless  if  it  be  not 
honest  in  its  hidden  parts ;  and  the  will  to  forsake  all 
earthly  friends  and  follow  the  Lord  is  never  truly  honest 
except  in  that  heart  where  there  has  been  the  mighty 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Tradition  is  very  hurtful  in  religion  if  it  is  admitted  to 
assume  the  place  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  nowhere  found 
recorded  in*  the  Bible  that  the  Lord  has  said.  My  oral 
law,  which  was  received  at  Sinai  and  was  to  be  preserved 
in  the  memory  from  age  to  age,  and  my  words  which 
Moses  and  the  prophets  committed  to  writing,  shall  never 
depart  from  thy  mouth,  nor  from  the  mouth  of  thy  seed, 
nor  from  the  mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed  ;  because  this  would 
be  introducing  the  traditionary  law  to  fill  the  place  where 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  stands;  yet,  practically,  many 
accept  the  text  just  as  it  would  be  perverted  by  such  a 
change.  The  brazen  serpent  has  its  place  in  the  writings 
of  Moses,  and  there  it  exists  in  innocence;  but  when  it 
passed  into  the  hands  of  tradition  it  became  an  object  of 
idolatrous  worship,  and  incense  continued  to  be  burnt  to 
it  through  many  centuries.  There  was  a  time  when  the 
written  law  had  almost  passed  out  of  sight,  and  tradition 
had  assumed  almost  the  whole  charge  of  the  Jewish  wor- 
ship;  and  the  king  was  once  astonished  to  get  a  sight 
of  the  long-buried  law  and  find  how  many  things  were 
condemned  in  it  which  the  popular  voice  then  sanctioned. 
Amazement   filled  the  Christian  world   in  the  sixteenth 


AND   HIS    WORD. 


207 


century,  when  the  Scriptures  began  again  to  be  searched 
which  the  priests  had  long  kept  concealed,  and  it  was 
found  how  tradition  had  made  such  a  wide  departure  from 
the  primitive  Christian  faith,  how  it  had  corrupted  Chris- 
tian doctrine  and  worship,  and  introduced  a  large  mass 
of  heathenism  under  new  names.  Tradition  must  not  be 
trusted  as  the  interpreter  of  God's  word,  because  it  has 
horribly  abused  such  a  trust ;  and  the  order  appointed  in 
the  Bible  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  first,  as  the  infallible 
interpreter,  and  secondly  the  written  word  fi-om  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  of  which  he  is  the  interpreter. 

It  is  equally  hurtful  to  religion  if  the  church  assumes  to 
fill  the  place  where  the  Holy  Spirit  ought  to  be.  One 
great  error  now  growing  within  Christendom  is  to  place 
that  trust  in  the  church  which  ought  to  be  placed  in  the 
Lord.  Men  depend  on  the  church  to  pray  for  them,  and 
neglect  to  pray  for  themselves ;  and  if  one  must  answer 
the  question,  what  he  believes,  his  answer  is,  I  believe  what 
the  church  believes.  It  is  supposed  that  private  judg- 
i-nent  may  err,  but  that  the  judgment  of  the  whole  church 
cannot  err.  The  mistake  of  these  persons  is  that  they 
depend  not  so  much  on  the  Shepherd  of  Israel  himself 
as  on  the  flock.  He  is  infallible,  but  the  flock  are  not 
infallible ;  he  is  the  eternal  rock  of  safety,  but  the  flock 
may  wander  and  be  scattered  and  fall  into  a  thousand 
snares.  The  church  may  wander  from  the  faith  and  leave 
her  first  love,  and  fall  so  low  that  she  has  only  a  name  to 
live  while  she  is  dead.  No  man  ought  ever  to  commit  his 
soul  to  such  a  body  or  company  for  salvation.  There  is 
the  higher  rock  on  which  the  soul  can  stand.  If  any  man 
depends  on  his  church,  it  is  indirectly  an  idolatrous  adora- 
tion of  himself:  because,  who  is  his  church  ?  It  is  only 
an  aggregation  of  persons  like  himself,  some  of  them 
more  intelligent  than  he  is,  and  very  many  just  as  igno- 


2o8  THE  SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 

rant.  We  may  carry  the  open  Bible  in  our  hands,  and 
still  we  will  trust  in  the  church  iiiore  than  we  trust  in  the 
Lord,  if  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  be  not  present  to  lead  us. 

A  pope  commits  a  great  mistake  if  he  attempts  to  take 
the  seat  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  infallible  interpreter 
of  the  word  of  God.  There  is  a  wide-spread  feeling  in 
Christendom  that  the  world  ought  to  have  one  living 
person  as  the  infallible  interpreter  of  the  true  Christian 
faith.  This  one  living  guide  ought  to  have  perfect  proofs 
of  his  infallibility ;  his  name  ought  to  be  known  among 
all  nations ;  he  ought  to  be  a  master  of  all  languages, 
and  so  all  nations  might  bring  religious  questions  to  him 
to  be  decided  finally  and  infallibly  in  his  presence.  Jesus 
Christ  was  an  infallible  interpreter  while  he  was  on  earth; 
but  his  public  life  continued  only  about  three  years,  and 
his  name  was  little  known  beyond  the  limits  of  Pales- 
tine; and  if  any  point  in  his  teaching  is  clear,  it  is  this, 
that  no  mortal  man  should  be  his  successor  or  vicar  on 
the  earth,  and  that  when  he  should  leave  the  earth  the 
Holy  Ghost  should  be  sent  in  his  place,  to  bring  all  things 
to  the  remembrance  of  the  disciples  which  he  had  spoken, 
to  be  the  comforter,  and  the  infallible  interpreter  of  the 
truths  of  salvation,  and  to  abide  with  his  people  till  the 
end  of  the  world. 

Finally,  man's  reason  must  not  be  permitted  to  usurp 
the  place  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  the  supreme  interpreter 
of  the  Scriptures.  A  living  mortal  pope  will  be  just  as 
safe  a  guide  as  reason  if  it  is  made  the  pope.  When  the 
Lord  says  that  his  Spirit  which  is  within  his  people,  and 
his  words  which  are  in  their  mouths,  shall  not  depart  out 
of  their  mouths  as  long  as  the  world  lasts,  his  Spirit  must 
not  be  accepted  here  as  only  another  name  for  human 
reason.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  man's  faculty  of 
reason  are  widely  different. 


AND   HIS    iVORD.  209 

When  reason  is  made  supreme,  religion  becomes  ration- 
alism, and  the  essential  character  of  the  whole  Bible 
becomes  changed.  Abraham  is  no  longer  the  man  to 
whom  the  Almighty  came  in  actual  visions,  but  he  is  a 
sage  of  a  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  who  reflected  on  the 
rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  and  stars,  and  became  con- 
vinced that  they  were  only  the  works  of  God  and  ought 
not  to  be  worshiped,  and  he  found  out  by  his  own  reason 
the  absurdity  of  the  popular  belief  in  many  gods.  Moses 
becomes  a  character  obscurely  seen  among  the  clouds  of 
false  pretension  and  popular  fiction ;  he  has  indeed  given 
a  good  system  of  laws,  but  he  has  mixed  them  up  with 
many  things  that  cannot  be  believed  because  they  contra- 
dict reason,  such  as  that  the  finger  of  God  wrote  the  ten 
commandments  on  two  tables,  that  there  was  salvation  for 
the  first-born  of  Israel  in  Egypt  through  the  sprinkling  of 
blood  at  the  door,  that  he  continued  forty  days  and  forty 
nights  alone  with  God  on  the  mount  to  receive  the  laws, 
that  the  manna  was  the  food  of  the  people  for  forty  years, 
furnishing  a  double  supply  every  Friday  morning,  with  no 
supply  on  Saturday,  that  the  sight  of  the  brazen  serpent 
effected  the  cure  of  many  who  were  dying  from  the  sting 
of  the  fiery  serpents, — so  that  it  is  a  question  how  any  great 
living  truth  could  be  laid  out  in  such  coffins  of  absurd 
fictions  and  not  itself  become  putrid.  Especially  is  the 
typical  character  of  the  Mosaic  system  denied  :  it  was  not 
composed  of  prophetic  symbols,  pointing  to  better  things 
to  come  more  than  a  thousand  years  in  the  future.  Moses 
was  a  shrewd  legislator,  making  many  false  pretensions  to 
inspire  the  people  with  awe.  Such  is  rationalism.  Behold  it: 
such  is  the  theory  when  reason  supplants  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Reason  has  decided  that  though  it  is  often  claimed  in 
the  book  of  Isaiah  that  the  conquests  of  Cyrus  were  fore- 
told in  that  book  long  before  any  eye  of  man  could  see 

18* 


2IO  THE   SPIRIT  OF    THE   LORD 

them,  yet  these  parts  of  the  book  must  have  been  written 
by  another  Isaiah  after  the  events.  Reason  has  decided 
that  Paul  did  not  believe  in  his  heart  the  doctrines  of  the 
resurrection,  of  the  atonement,  and  of  the  second  coming 
of  Christ,  which  he  preached.  Reason  rejects  the  expla- 
nation of  the  Jewish  worship  which  is  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  and  ventures  to  suggest  a  different  theory, 
— that  the  brazen  altar  might  stand  for  all  animals,  the 
golden  altar  for  all  spices,  the  seven  lamps  within  the 
sanctuary  for  the  seven  stars,  the  sanctuary  and  its  courts 
in  front  for  the  earth,  and  the  supremely  holy  apartment 
for  heaven.  Reason  declares  its  doubts  whether  the  patri- 
archs were  inspired  with  a  firm  hope  of  a  glorious  immor- 
tality ;  and  when  they  are  seen  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  traveling  as  strangers  and  pilgrims,  with  no 
landed  possession  here,  and  not  expecting  rest  here,  for 
the  eternal  city  which  they  believed  God  had  prepared 
for  them,  reason  shuts  its  eyes  against  this  light,  as  being 
too  dazzling. 

There  is  a  proper  place  for  reason  in  religion,  where  it 
is  religion's  useful,  beautiful,  and  humble  handmaid  ;  but 
out  of  its  place  it  becomes  the  dangerous  sorceress,  it 
becomes  the  beautiful  Cleopatra ;  and  the  disgrace,  the 
madness,  the  ruin,  the  desperation,  which  this  guilty  woman 
brought  on  her  Antony  and  herself  are  only  feeble  figures 
to  set  forth  how  dangerous  reason  is  when  it  is  enthroned 
as  a  goddess  in  religion  ;  and  it  is  always  made  a  goddess 
when  it  is  set  in  the  place  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  French 
people  once  attempted  to  utter'  blasphemies  against  the 
Holy  Ghost  of  the  Bible,  and  to  worship  reason  as  their 
goddess;  and  the  terrific  results  which  ensued,  the  refuge 
which  many  leading  infidels  sought  in  the  horrible  deed 
of  suicide,  ought  to  be  a  lesson  and  a  warning  never  to  be 
forgotten  in  the  world. 


AND  HIS    WORD.  21 1 

Supposing  that  I  have  some  particular  friend  who  has 
been  seduced  by  the  voice  of  deified  reason  until  he  has 
stumbled  into  the  low  pit  of  skepticism,  where  he  sits  in 
doubt  of  the  veracity  of  both  Moses  and  Paul,  and  where 
all  religion  has  almost  passed  away  from  his  vision  as  one 
of  the  mists  of  unenlightened  ages,  I  wish  to  extend  my 
voice  to  him  and  have  a  few  earnest  words  with  him. 
My  friend,  is  not  this  a  dark  pit  where  you  are  sitting  ? 
Is  it  not  really  a  dark  dungeon  ?  It  is  sad  indeed  if  your 
own  pride  of  intellect  and  blinding  prejudices  have  brought 
you  to  this  place.  It  is  sad  if  you  are  now  here  because 
a  strong  light  once  shone  on  you  in  a  better  place,  but 
you  inwardly  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  and  this 
brought  you  down.  You  ought  to  examine  whether  there 
has  been  a  hatred  of  the  pure  truth  concealed  in  your 
heart,  as  all  such  hatred  involves  a  fearful  guilt.  If  some 
element  of  wickedness  in  your  own  heart  has  caused  all 
this  darkness  in  which  you  are  now  sitting,  you  are  doing 
wrong  to  be  sitting  here  in  peace.  There  is  one  saying 
of  Jesus  which  possibly  ought  to  be  a  touch  of  fire  to  your 
sleeping  conscience  :  the  saying  is  this  :  "If  any  man  will 
do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be 
of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  (John  vii.  17.) 
Weigh  this  verse  in  your  conscience  :  If  any  man  wills  to 
do  the  holy  will  of  the  Father,  if  any  man  wishes  to  know 
how  he  may  travel  up  to  God,  and  how  he  may  gather 
others  with  him  on  the  way  to  heaven,  if  he  truly  desires 
to  learn  what  are  the  duties  for  him  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  Jesus  appears  to  declare  explicitly  that  darkness 
cannot  continue  to  hold  him  a  prisoner.  "  He  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine;"  he  will  pass  out  from  the  dungeon  of 
doubt  into  light,  he  will  become  satisfied  whether  Jesus 
brought  the  message  of  God  or  brought  his  own  message. 
Jesus  attaches  great   importance  to  truth   in  the  man's 


212  THE   SPIRIT  OF  THE   LORD 

heart,  or  those  inquiries  after  the  truth  which  have  their 
origin  in  sincerity.  Subjective  truth  and  objective  truth 
cannot  be  naturally  separated  ;  where  a  man  desires  to 
have  the  truth,  the  bars  of  prejudice  become  broken, 
and  the  objective  light,  the  external  doctrine  of  Jesus, 
naturally  passes  into  his  heart  and  fills  it.  If  a  man  is 
sitting  in  darkness  concerning  the  will  of  God  because 
his  own  will  has  closed  his  eyes  to  the  light,  he  ought  to 
find  out  the  wrong  thing  in  himself  before  the  great  day 
of  judgment  brings  it  out. 

May  I  offer  you,  my  friend,  a  key  which  you  may  try 
on  the  doors  of  your  dark  dungeon,  and  possibly  it  will 
open  every  one  ?  This  key  lies  in  another  saying  of  Jesus. 
Let  me  read  it :  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give 
good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask 
him  !"  (Luke  xi.  13.)  The  Holy  Spirit  is  thus  offered  to 
those  who  are  sitting  in  darkness,  to  those  who  are  chained 
in  a  dungeon;  but  they  do  not  feel  their  chains,  and  sup- 
pose they  are  free.  Heaven  cannot  offer  a  more  precious 
gift  than  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  the  eternal  light  within 
God  himself,  the  light  of  truth,  of  faith,  of  hope,  of  holi- 
ness, of  love,  and  of  comfort.  His  holy  name  appears  in 
brilliant  letters  through  all  parts  of  the  Bible.  Balaam 
and  Saul  knew  his  power,  and  fell  to  the  ground,  and  were 
compelled  to  give  utterance  to  his  holy  inspirations,  though 
they  both  were  travelers  by  choice  in  the  dark  and  down- 
ward road,  and  they  escaped  from  him  only  to  rush  on 
faster  to  ruin.  Moses  and  the  prophets  knew  his  power, 
put  on  their  robes  of  light  in  his  illumination,  and  re- 
joiced in  his  grace.  He  is  sent  to  those  who  ask  for  him, 
to  guide  them  into  light.  Have  you  continued  sitting  in 
this  dungeon,  and  never  earnestly  asked  the  Father  to 
send  you  the  Spirit?     If  prayer  may  bring  you  an  infal- 


AND   HIS    WORD. 


213 


lible  guide  and  mighty  deliverer,  prayer  is  clearly  your 
first  duty.  The  best  key  to  try  now  on  the  doors  of  your 
prison  is  prayer.  If  you  remain  here  because  you  have 
no  will  to  make  one  humble  prayer  for  light,  an  infinitely 
more  horrible  darkness  may  soon  bring  its  clouds  over 
you,  and  you  will  have  no  one  to  blame  except  yourself. 

If  these  two  texts  have  the  right  to  be  cited  as  the 
words  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if  these  two  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  support  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  are  sound, — 
first,  that  those  who  sincerely  wish  to  be  at  work  in  the 
holy  service  of  God  naturally  come  to  find  the  Divine 
will  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and,  secondly,  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  comes  to  guide  those  who  ask  for  him,  into  the 
light, — every  man  ought  instantly  to  see  on  what  the  safety 
of  his  soul  depends.  He  ought  also  to  see  that  two  such 
pillars  never  support  a  false  doctrine,  and  that  if  Jesus 
spoke  thus  he  must  have  brought  his  message  from  God. 
If  a  house  has  its  foundation  in  holy  sincerity  without 
blinding  prejudice,  and  in  religious  instruction  and 
prayer  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  travelers  need  not  be  afraid 
to  lodge  in  it  over  night. 

My  friend,  bend  your  knees,  and  try  to  call  upon  the 
Lord  from  your  dungeon  of  skepticism.  Unite  with  me 
in  this  prayer : 

"Thou  Father  in  heaven,  thou  fountain  of  all  light,  if 
thou  sendest  thy  Holy  Spirit  to  be  the  guide  of  the  blind, 
here  is  one  who  is  blind ;  but,  though  blind,  I  would  try 
to  pray.  May  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit  and  in  the 
Scriptures,  if  this  is  the  right  belief.  I  would  not  sit  in 
darkness,  when  I  ought  to  be  doing  thy  work  in  the  clear 
light  of  day.  I  would  not  be  closing  my  own  eyes 
against  the  light,  when  I  ought  to  be  actively  holding  out 
a  light  to  others  to  cheer  them  on  their  upward  way  to 
God.     I  Avould  make  thy  service  in  thine  own  kingdom 


214  ^-^^   SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 

the  choice  and  delight  of  my  heart,  rather  than  the  ser- 
vice of  the  world.  Send  thy  truth  into  my  heart,  even  if 
all  the  prejudices  of  my  education  should  be  aroused 
against  it.  May  I  receive  thy  truth,  and  be  unable  to 
resist  it,  even  if  it  should  alarm  me,  and  condemn  all  my 
past  life,  and  bring  over  my  soul  a  horror  of  great  dark- 
ness. May  thy  truth  be  dearer  to  me  than  worldly  prop- 
erty and  all  my  friends.  Let  it  not  be  my  condemnation 
that  light  has  come  into  the  world,  but  that  I  loved  dark- 
ness rather  than  light.  '  Search  me,  O  God,  and  know 
my  heart;  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts;  and  see  if  there 
be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lea.d  me  in  the  way 
everlasting.'  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?  I 
would  ask  this  same  thing  every  day, — What  wilt  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?  If  thou  dost  send  thy  Spirit  in  answer 
to  prayer,  as  Jesus  appears  to  have  taught,  I  would  now 
commit  to  the  hand  of  thy  Spirit  my  whole  soul,  and 
especially  my  mind  struggling  in  darkness,  and  my  selfish 
and  debased  nature." 

Can  the  doubter  of  all  religion  make  this  prayer  sin- 
cerely and  regularly,  never  omitting  it  for  a  single  morning, 
and  not  come  out  of  his  darkness  into  light  ?  It  appears 
to  me  almost  impossible.  The  sincere  wish  to  come 
to  God's  truth,  if  it  exercise  itself  in  the  secret  whis- 
pers of  prayer,  naturally  dissolves  the  strength  of  skep- 
ticism, as  the  warm  sun  causes  the  snow  to  disappear. 
Prayer  carries  the  soul  up  into  light,  too  near  to  God  to 
let  skepticism  still  be  freezing  over  it.  Do  try,  then,  my 
friend,  if  you  can  find  a  true  relief  for  your  doubts  in 
prayer.  Most  men  suppose  it  to  be  proper  to  pray  for  the 
bread  which  perishes;  but  there  is  a  higher  propriety  in 
asking  God  for  the  spiritual  bread  which  the  soul  needs. 

Is  it  said  that  skeptics  do  not  pray, — that  skepticism 
reasonably  produces  a  dislike  of  prayer,  or  a  want  of  faith 


AND   HIS    WORD. 


215 


in  it?  then  on  this  single  ground  let  skepticism  be  uncon- 
ditionally condemned.  If  a  man  is  an  atheist,  still  he 
never  can  go  further  than  the  region  of  doubts;  he  never 
can  reach  a  demonstrated  certainty  that  there  is  no  God  : 
and  so  long  as  the  whole  subject  still  continues  in  doubt, 
his  only  safe  and  wise  course  is  to  make  the  prayer  every 
day,  "God,  if  thou  dost  exist,  hear  me  and  give  me  thy 
help."  Circumstances  are  often  such  that  it  is  a  man's 
duty  to  raise  the  loudest  cry  for  help  even  if  there  be  no 
certainty  that  there  is  any  one  to  help  him  within  the 
reach  of  his  cry.  The  skeptic  never  takes  one  step  in  the 
long  race  of  life  where  it  is  a  certainty  that  God  is  so 
distant  from  him  that  his  call  for  mercy  and  help  could 
not  reach  him.  No  man  has  a  right  to  excuse  himself 
for  the  entire  neglect  of  prayer  on  the  ground  that  he  is 
an  atheist.  He  may  see  no  proof  satisfactory  to  himself 
that  there  is  a  God ;  yet  a  God  may  be,  and  this  God  may 
be  the  hearer  of  prayer.  If  an  atheist  make  it  his  secret 
prayer  daily  that  if  a  God  of  love  does  exist  his  own  soul 
may  be  visited  with  the  light  of  this  love,  there  may  be  a 
serene  gem  of  honesty  in  that  man's  heart  more  valuable 
in  "the  sight  of  God  than  all  the  massive  learning  of  scoff- 
ing and  prayerless  infidels.  There  is  no  senseless  head 
living  more  unreasonable  than  the  skeptic  who  supposes 
that  the  wonderful  religious  faculties  of  the  human  soul 
have  no  deep  meaning. 

Poor  people,  whose  circle  of  knowledge  is  very  limited, 
sometimes  have  the  greatest  enjoyment  in  religion  ;  they 
may  have  a  pure  and  intelligent  delight  in  their  Bibles, 
though  they  have  never  made  the  evidences  of  revealed 
religion  a  special  study,  and  have  never  had  time  for  such 
studies,  and  their  simple  faith  in  the  Divine  promises  may 
give  them  a  continued  sunshine  of  the  heart  along  the 
journey  of  life,  while  the  scholar  of  stupendous  learning 


21 6  THE   SPIRIT  OF   THE   LORD 

and  abilit)'  may  taste  no  such  celestial  food.  The  reason 
may  be  that  they  have  obtained  by  prayer  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  their  guide  and  comforter,  and  thus  they  rise  in  light 
nearer  to  God,  while  the  other's  learning  and  pride  of 
intellect  convince  him  of  the  uselessness  of  prayer  for 
light,  and  hold  him  down  heavily  to  the  earth.  God 
brings  the  poor  and  humble  to  his  own  table,  while  the 
rich  and  the  wise  may  stay  away,  supposing  that  they 
have  all  needful  wisdom  without  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
perish. 

If  the  Bible  has  indeed  this  precious  promise  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  for  us  in  our  search  after  God,  it  is  wrong  to 
speak  doubtfully  of  this  gift,  and  especially  is  there  a 
flagrant  wrong  in  speaking  contemptuously  of  it.  Any 
word  or.  act  which  implies  a  dishonor  of  the  holiness  of 
God  or  of  his  spiritual  nature  is  among  the  most  virulent 
offenses.  Whether  we  learn  the  character  and  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  school  of  Moses  alone,  or  accept 
also  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  along  with  Moses, 
Jesus  has  left  a  momentous  warning  for  persons  of  every 
faith  and  of  all  ages,  in  the  words,  *'  He  that  shall  blas- 
pheme against  the  Holy  Ghost  hath  never  forgiveness, 
but  is  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation." 

If  you  walk  close  to  the  truth  as  your  friend,  you  have 
the  best  of  all  friends;  but  if  the  truth  be  against  you,  the 
worst  of  all  enemies  is  against  you.  Place  the  truth  in 
the  supreme  seat,  and  your  own  theory  in  a  lower  seat : 
give  up  to  the  truth  to  determine  your  theory,  and  set  not 
up  your  own  theory  to  determine  the  truth.  Open  all  the 
heart,  that  truth  and  love  may  enter  and  possess  it  for- 
ever. 

If  I  may  imagine  these  lines  printed,  and  ever  perused 
by  some  person  who  hates  the  light  that  reproves  his 
deeds  and  corrects  his  views,  and  is  stubborn  in  his  preju- 


AND  HIS   WORD.  217 

dices,  I  would  leave  the  following  lines  of  Young  sound- 
ing in  his  ears  : 

"  Seize  wisdom,  ere  'tis  torment  to  be  wise  ; 
That  is,  seize  wisdom  ere  she  seizes  thee. 
For  what,  my  small  philosopher,  is  hell  ? 
'Tis  nothing  but  full  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
When  truth,  resisted  long,  is  sworn  our  foe, 
And  calls  eternity  to  do  her  right." 

M.  R.  M. 


NOTE   SUPPLEMENTARY   TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION. 

A  Theological  Review  of  the  highest  character,  has  pronounced  the 
style  of  reasoning  at  many  points,  overstrained.  The  candid  reader  is 
here  invited  to  review  briefly  the  ascending  steps  in  the  argument 
founded  on  the  word  yehovah — the  argument  that  it  is  both  a  Dt^ 
DXj.'n  and  a  INH  Djy,  a  Proper  Noun  and  a  Common  Noun,  and  that  in 
the  later  Scriptures  it  eminently  unfolds  itself  as  a  Common  Noun  or 
appellative ;  and  to  decide  whether  any  step  is  evidently  overstrained. 
I.  The  first  step  is  the  anomaly  in  the  verse,  "Hear,  O  Israel :  yehovah 
our  God  is  one  yehovah^  if  Jehovah  in  both  parts  of  the  verse  is  a  Proper 
Noun,  inasmuch  as  it  then  has  too  great  a  similarity  to  this  kind  of  a  sen- 
tence :  Hear,  O  Americans  1  George  Washington  our  first  President  was 
one  George  Washington.  This  anomaly  is  elegantly  illustrated  by  Men- 
delssohn in  his  Beur  on  Gen.  xlviii.  22,  where  the  dying  Jacob  is  found 
saying  to  Joseph,  "  Moreover,  I  have  given  to  thee  one  portion  above 
thy  brethren."  The  word  portion  here  is  Shechem  in  the  original,  and 
some  propose  to  take  it  as  a  Proper  Noun,  the  name  of  a  town  ;  "  More- 
over, I  have  given  to  thee  one  Shechem."  Mark  with  what  language 
Mendelssohn  dismisses  this  rendering  : 

i£Dijy£3o  pirn  Ninty  n^bo  ,DDty  yy  bp  D'tyiDon  Sty  "'£3n  Sax 

"But  the  reference  of  some  expositors  to  the  city  Shechem,  besides 
that  it  is  far  from  the  obvious  import  of  the  text,  mark  also  that  the  word 
one  does  not  suit  after  it,  because  a  fixed  Proper  Noun  does  not  associate 
itself  with  a  numeral."  A  most  lucid  criticism  !  And  just  as  the  word 
Shechem  cannot  here  join  itself  to  the  numeral  one  (IPX),  if  it  is  a  Proper 
Noun ;  so,  in  the  great  text,  the  word  Jehovah  cannot,  if  it  is  a  Proper 

19  ^ 


2 1 S  SUPPLEMENTAR  Y. 

Noun,  be  joined  to  the  numeral  otie  (IPN)  as  its  adjective.  It  must  be 
admitted  that  the  force  of  this  criticism  is  very  considerably  evaded  by 
the  translation,  "  Hear,  O  Israel!  Jehovah  is  our  God,  Jehovah  is  one." 
But  the  LXX.  rejected  this  rendering ;  nearly  every  approved  version  ac- 
cepts the  verse  as  rendered  in  King  James'  Bible,  and  even  the  Prayer- 
book  for  German  and  Polish  Jews,  printed  in  London  A.  M.  5596,  trans- 
lates it,  "  Hear,  O  Israel !  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  God,"  thus  taking  the 
last  two  words  as  a  predicate,  and  not  both  subject  and  predicate.  2. 
Another  element  of  verity  and  strength  is  found  in  the  decision  of  the 
most  learned  and  eminent  Rabbi  Aben  Ezra  on  this  question.  Read 
his  elucidation  of  the  words  yehovah  and  ydiovah  in  immediate  conti- 
guity in  Exodus  xxxiv.  6  : 

,D^"ity  Dm  mo  d'o;'£ii  i^nn  Diy  Nin  D'd;'3  o  nioty  nbxi  niyiD3 
n'ty'on  jnni  ,n^;roi  oimi  ,r\-^-hMi  Sn  nSoi 

"And  behold  the  transcendent  name  (niiT)  they  have  introduced 
among  characteristics  [definitions,  measures],  and  it  is  a  Proper  Noun. 
And  already  I  have  mentioned  in  the  section  Veeleh  Shemoth  [the  first 
section  in  Exodus  prescribed  for  synagogal  reading]  that  in  some  places 
it  is  a  Common  Noun  and  in  some  places  a  characteristic  ;  and  these  make 
two,  and  the  word  El  is  the  third,  and  Merciful  is  the  fourth,  Gracious 
the  fifth."  With  this  clear  testimony  of  Aben  Ezra  before  us.  Christians 
are  entitled  to  affirm  that,  even  their  enemies  themselves  being  judges, 
the  Proper  Noun  Jehovah  became  even  as  early  as  the  writings  of  Moses, 
a  Common  Noun.  It  was  possibly  m  the  mind  of  Aben  Ezra  here,  that 
the  word  Jehovah,  passing  into  a  Common  Noun,  indicated  mercy,  the 
divine  characteristic,  or  the  D'Om  mO  ;  very  much  as  it  is  imagined  on 
page  40,  that  Moses  Montefiore  might  become  a  Common  Noun  or  con- 
crete of  philanthropy.  But  this  remaining  undecided,  it  is  on  the  simple 
point  whether  there  is  in  the  term  Jehovah  both  the  Proper  Noun  and  the 
Common  Noun  that  Aben  Ezra  is  here  called  to  decide ;  and  he  does 
decide  clearly.  3.  The  third  step  in  the  combined  argument  commences 
with  Hannah,  the  mother  of  Samuel,  who  in  her  prayer  before  the  ark 
appears  as  the  first  who  placed  the  word  Jehovah  in  the  construct  state 
with  hosts,  in  the  phrase  ydiovah  Sabaoth.  How  transccndenUy  sacred 
this  phrase  was  from  the  beginning,  greatly  above  the  phrase  God  of 
hosts  (Elohe  Sabaoth),  is  evinced  in  the  verse  2  Sam.  vi.  2 :  "  And  David 
arose  and  went  with  all  the  people  that  were  with  him  from  Baale  Judah 
to  bring  up  from  thence  the  ark  of  God  (D'n7Xn  jllX  HN),  upon  wliich 
the  name  is  called,  the  name  Jehovah  Sabaoth,  the  dweller  of  the  Cher- 
ubim." The  Septuaginl  translates  it  here  and  in  several  other  places, 
Loi-d  of  principalities  {V^vpiov  riiv  Swafiewv),  nndhy  ilunameis  the  LXX. 
meant  not  the  forces  of  nature  among  the  stars,  but  the  highest  ranks 


SUPPLEMENTARY.  219 

of  holy  angels.  Remember  how  this  phrase,  exhibiting  the  ineffable 
name  in  the  construct  state,  becomes  multiplied  in  the  Psalms,  abounds 
Still  more  in  the  prophets  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  ;  and  in  the  last  prophets 
Zechariah  and  Malachi,  and  especially  in  Malachi,  it  spreads  itself  more 
abundantly  over  the  whole  field  than  with  any  earlier  prophet.  You  find 
the  particulars  here,  on  pages  41,  42.  The  hundreds  of  texts  where  this 
phrase  occurs  are  so  many  hundreds  of  proofs  that  the  word  Jehovah 
has  taken  the  stamp  of  a  Common  Noun  or  appellative,  it  being  one  of 
the  most  unvarying  principles  in  Hebrew  grammar  that  a  Proper  Noun 
cannot  be  subjected  to  the  construct  state.  (See  foot-note  on  page  31.) 
4.  The  fourth  step  comes  on  the  verse  Zech.  xiii.  7,  where  is  found  the 
shepherd,  the  man  that  is  the  fellow  of  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth.  Always 
when  a  Proper  Noun  becomes  a  Common  Noun  a  fellow  comes  in,  and 
this  verse  introduces  the  fellow  of  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth.  The  28th  page 
of  this  book  proves  that  the  -word  JTOJ.'  (the  Hebrew  word  here  trans- 
lated fellow)  never  in  the  Bible  means  an  idol  or  an  adversary  or  op- 
ponent, but  always  a  second  person  standing  with  the  first  on  the  level 
of  natural  right  and  moral  dignity.  5.  Another  element  in  the  general 
arg^tment  is  extracted  from  the  several  verses  which  bring  before  us 
Jehovah  one  with  Jehovah  another.  One  verse  is  Gen.  xix.  24,  cited  on 
page  71.  Another  such  passage  is  Ex.  vi.  2,  3,  cited,  pages  25,  222. 
Another  is  Ex.  xxxiv.  6,  cited,  page  26.  Another  such  passage  contains 
Jehovah  the  primary  agent  and  Jehovah  the  instrumental  Saviour — 
namely,  Hos.  i.  7,  cited,  page  27.  Another  contains  Jehovah,  himself 
the  King,  and  the  King  of  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth,  cited  and  elucidated, 
page  180.  6.  The  sixth  item  crowns  all,  and  places  the  luminous  robe 
around  all  the  others.  The  sixth  item  in  evidence  is  that  the  blessed 
name  Jehovah  comes  to  view  in  the  New  Testament  only  in  the  term 
Kurios,  and  that  this  term,  as  a  divine  name,  in  the  New  Testament 
is  most  unquestionably  a  Common  Noun,  or  a  name  shared  by  more 
than  one.  For  one  highly  relevant  example  read  i  Cor.  viii.  6:  "  But 
to  us  there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all  things,  and 
we  in  him,  and  one  Lord  (Kurios)  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  are  all  things, 
and  we  by  him."  Here  the  divine  name  Kurios  is  withheld  from  God 
the  Father  and  distinctively  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ ;  nevertheless,  it 
belongs  to  both.  This  text  bears  no  clearer  witness  for  the  appella- 
tive character  of  Kurios  as  a  divine  name  than  the  other  texts  cited  on 
page  168  and  page  29.  We  find,  therefore,  that  this  appellative  charac- 
ter of  the  divine  name  Lord  is  one  of  the  clearest  tenets  of  the  New 
Testament ;  that  this  tenet  throws  a  wondrous  track  of  light  back  over 
the  Hebrew  Bible  ;  that  this  track  of  light  is  widest  and  strongest  among 
the  prophets  holding  their  places  near  the  close  of  prophecy,  in  whose 
writings  the  phrase  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth  is  found  most  profusely  scat- 


2  20  SUPPLEMENTAR  Y. 

tered  ;  but  it  extends  back  through  the  Psalms  to  that  prayer  of  Hannah 
which  contains  the  first  mention  of  Jehovah  of  Sabaoth,  and  the  lumi- 
nous track  makes  itself  visible  still  farther  back,  so  as  to  reach  Moses  at 
his  great  distance  and  drop  Aurora's  crown  on  his  head.  Declare  now 
where  there  is  one  step  in  all  this  comprehensive  argument  tliat  is  over- 
strained. It  is  an  argument  finely  adjusted  in  all  its  parts,  symmetrical, 
solid  and  towering  as  a  pyramid,  and  wonderfully  adapted  to  inspire 
every  beholder  with  the  exclamation.  Oh,  the  deptli,  the  treasure  inex- 
haustible, that  is  in  the  Scriptures  ! 

These  six  steps  may  now  introduce  us  to  a  rest,  a  seventh  day  of  rest 
after  six  days,  or  that  Sabbath  of  which  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord.  Flash- 
ing light  can  be  evolved  from  that  remarkable  text,  Mark  ii.  28  :  "  There- 
fore the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath."  Here  the  term  Lord 
is  the  divine  name,  yet  it  is  a  Common  Noun — most  clearly  a  Common 
Noun,  since  Kurios  here  governs  the  genitive  sabbatou  (Sabbath),  as  a 
Greek  scholar  says  ;  or  as  a  Hebrew  scholar  would  say,  Kurios  is  here  in 
the  cofistruct  state,  with  the  noun  sabbatou  after  it.  Any  Proper  Noun 
introduced  where  Kurios  here  is,  would  only  produce  a  vacancy  of  mean- 
ing and  an  outrage  on  grammar.  You  can  try  it :  The  Son  of  man  is 
Abraham  of  the  Sabbath,  the  Son  of  man  is  Moses  of  the  Sabbath,  the 
Son  of  man  is  David  of  the  Sabbath  ;  or,  if  it  is  said,  The  Son  of  man 
is  the  Nehemiah  of  the  Sabbath,  a  glimmering  meaning  may  be  discov- 
erable in  the  sentence,  as  that  Jesus  fills  the  place  of  Nehemiah  in  inau- 
gurating a  reformation  of  Sabbath  observance ;  but  neither  this  meaning 
nor  any  other  can  be  introduced  into  this  sentence  except  by  bringing 
two  persons  under  the  term  Nehemiah,  or,  in  other  words,  ctianging  it 
into  a  Common  Noun.  And  precisely  as  the  divine  name  Kurios  in  this 
saying  of  Jesus  must  be  a  Common  Noun,  so  in  every  place  where 
mX3i'  nin\  Jehovah  of  hosts,  occurs,  the  term  Jehovah  must  be  a  Com- 
mon Noun.  Aben  Ezra  has  clearly  unfolded  the  utter  impossibility  of 
its  being,  in  this  phrase,  a  DVi'n  Dt^. 

The  argument  founded  on  the  i>cot»)s  (Godhead)  ascribed  to  the  Son 
of  God  is  unfolded  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews ; 
but  this  argument  founded  on  the  kupiottjs  (Lordship)  ascribed  to  him 
will  certainly  appear  to  many  minds  equally  clear  and  forcible,  and  pos- 
sibly more  extensively  and  inextricably  woven  through  the  vast  and 
unspeakably  holy  texture  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 

I  will  invite  the  reader  to  notice  in  the  foot-note  on  page  37  how 
Maimonides  appears  to  insist  that  there  is  only  one  Proper  Noun  by 
which  God  is  known — namely,  the  Tetragrammaton — whereas  the  name 
Jah  is  equally  a  Proper  Noun,  equally  holy  and  incomprehensible  and 
expressive  of  unchanging  being.  And  this  same,  all  of  it,  can  be 
affirmed  of  the  other  name,  Ehych  usher  Ehyeh,  I-will-be-tliat-I-will-bc. 


APPENDIX. 


A   DISSERTATION   ON   THE   BOOK   OF   JOB. 

The  book  of  Job  has  rendered  such  pecuhar  and  im- 
portant aid  in  the  preceding  inquiries  that  it  is  proposed 
finally  to  make  it  the  subject  of  a  special  dissertation. 

The  following  verse  is  found  in  Ezekiel :  "Though 
Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job  were  in  it,  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord 
God,  they  shall  deliver  neither  son  nor  daughter ;  they 
shall  but  deliver  their  own  souls  by  their  righteousness" 
(chap.  xiv.  20): — which  verse  proves  that  the  Jews  of 
the  Babylonish  captivity  knew  Job  as  one  whose  supplica- 
tions were  needed  by  his  friends  for  their  salvation. 

If  a  verse  is  found  in  the  book  which  is  Chaldee,  this 
does  not  prove  that  this  verse  must  have  been  written  so 
late  as  the  captivity  in  Babylon ;  since  it  might  just  as 
well  be  argued  that  Jacob  and  Laban  lived  close  to  the 
captivity  because  Chaldee  words  passed  between  them  in 
their  conversation  as  they  were  separating  for  the  last 
time. 

Aben  Ezra  gives  his  opinion  thus:  ''Job  was  one  of 
the  grandsons  of  Nahor,  the  brother  of  Abraham  ;  and  a 
view  still  more  agreeable  to  me  is  that  he  was  of  the  sons 
of  Esau." 

Job  could  hardly  be  younger  than  fifty  years  when  his 

great  reverse  came  upon  him ;  and,  as  he  lived  one  hundred 

19*  221 


22  2  A  DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

and  forty  years  afterward,  he  must  have  been  nearly  two 
hundred  years  old  when  he  died.  Men  had  ceased  long 
before  the  time  of  Moses  to  live  to  this  age  ;  and  the 
book  of  Job  was  probably  composed  long  before  the  first 
book  of  Moses.  "  The  following  instances  will  shovv  the 
regularity  of  the  decline,  and  enable  us,  with  some  degree 
of  probability,  to  determine  the  period  of  the  world  in 
which  Job  lived.  Noah  lived  nine  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ;  Shem,  his  son,  six  hundred ;  Arphaxad,  his  son, 
four  hundred  and  thirty-eight  years ;  Salah,  four  hundred 
and  thirty-three  years;  Eber,  four  hundred  and  sixty-four ; 
Peleg,  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine ;  Reu,  two  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  ;  Serug,  two  hundred  and  thirty  ;  Nahor, 
two  hundred  and  forty-eight ;  Terah,  two  hundred  and 
five  ;  Abraham,  one  hundred  and  seventy-five;  Isaac,  one 
hundred  and  eighty ;  Jacob,  one  hundred  and  forty-seven ; 
Joseph,  one  hundred  and  ten ;  Moses,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ;  Joshua,  one  hundred  and  ten.  Supposing,  then, 
the  age  of  Job  to  have  been  somewhat  unusual  and  ex- 
traordinary, it  would  fall  in  with  the  period  somewhere  in 
the  time  between  Terah  and  Jacob ;  and,  if  so,  he  was 
probably  contemporary  with  the  most  distinguished  of 
the  patriarchs."  {Barnes.") 

It  was  the  burnt-offering  which  Job  sacrificed  regularly 
for  his  children,  on  the  hypothesis  that  they  had  sinned  in 
their  feasts;  and  it  was  the  burnt-offering  of  fourteen 
animals  which  his  three  friends  were  required  to  provide 
in  the  end,  that  the  sin  of  their  improper  language  might 
be  forgiven  before  the  Lord  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
Job  for  them.  This  proves  that  the  patriarchal  burnt- 
offering  was  in  large  part  of  the  nature  of  a  sin-offering ; 
it  also  proves  a  probability  that  the  sin-offering  in  that 
separate  form  which  Moses  gave  it  did  not  exist  in  the 
time  of  Job. 


A   DISSERTATION  OX   JOB.  223 

The  Divine  namey^/i  is  not  found  in  Job,  which  favors 
the  hypothesis  that  Moses  was  the  first  to  bring  it  into 
use ;  and  Adonai,  as  a  Divine  name,  occurs  only  once  in 
the  whole  book,  namely,  in  the  last  verse  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  chapter.  Abraham  used  this  name  seven  times  in 
prayer,  thus  proving  that  it  was  then  clothed  with  all  its 
sacredness ;  but  the  horizon  surrounding  Job  was  so  dif- 
ferent that  this  name  was  barely  beginning  to  touch  the 
horizon  with  its  light. 

Memory  must  again  be  refreshed  with  the  verses  in  the 
sixth  chapter  of  Exodus:  "And  God  spake  unto  Moses, 
and  said  unto  him,  I  am  Jehovah.  And  I  appeared  unto 
Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  El  Shaddai ; 
and  by  my  x\2imt  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them."  It 
is  highly  interesting  to  examine  how  these  two  patriarchal 
names,  £1  and  Shaddai,  appear  in  Job.  El  goes  ahead 
of  every  other  Divine  name  in  Job  by  a  large  majority ; 
it  occurs  in  fifty-five  places,  while  Shaddai  occurs  in  thirty- 
one  places.  Many  verses  consist  of  two  parallel  lines,  and 
El  is  in  the  first  line  while  Shaddai  corresponds  to  it  in 
the  second  line.     Some  examples  are  the  following : 

"  Doth  £1  pervert  judgment? 

Or  doth  Shaddai  pervert  justice  ?"  (viii.  3.) 
"  If  thou  wouldest  seek  unto  £/ betimes, 

And  make  thy  supphcation  to  Shaddai."  (viii.  5.) 
"  Surely  I  would  speak  to  Shaddai, 

And  I  desire  to  reason  with  EL"  (xiii.  3.) 
"  For  he  stretcheth  out  his  hand  against  El, 

And  strengtheneth  himself  against  Shaddai."  (xv.  25.) 

"  Who  said  unto  El,  Depart  from  us  : 

And  what  can  Shaddai  do  for  them?"  (xxii.  17.) 
"  For  El  maketh  my  heart  soft, 

And  Shaddai  troubleth  me."  (xxiii.  16.) 
"  As  El  liveth,  who  hath  taken  away  my  judgment ; 

And  Shaddai,  who  hath  vexed  my  soul."  (xxvii.  2.) 


224  A  DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

"  This  is  the  portion  of  a  wicked  man  with  E/, 

And  the  heritage  of  oppressors,  which  they  shall  receive  of  Shaddai." 
(xxvii.  13.) 

"  The  Spirit  of  El  hath  made  me, 

And  the  breath  oi  Shaddai  will  give  me  life."  (xxxiii.  4.) 

There  are  thirteen  verses  of  this  kind  in  Job,  each  having 
El  in  one  line  and  Shaddai  in  the  other.  They  furnish 
a  splendid  testimony  that  El  and  Shaddai  were  the  holy 
names  among  the  patriarchs. 

The  tetragrammaton  was  also  known  to  Job  as  it  was 
to  Abraham  ;  it  fills  thirty-two  places  in  Job ;  but  it  is  a 
very  singular  fact  that  in  the  body  of  the  book — that  is, 
the  poetical  speeches — the  tetragrammaton  is  found  only 
once,  and  this  is  in  the  twelfth  chapter,  the  ninth  verse. 
All  the  other  instances  of  its  appearance  are  in  the 
historical  chapters  at  the  beginning  and  closje  of  the  book, 
and  in  the  titles  at  the  heads  of  chapters,  giving  the  author 
of  the  next  speech.  Whether  this  proves  that  the  histor- 
ical frame  inclosing  the  poetical  speeches  was  prepared  in 
a  later  age,  when  the  name  Jehovah  was  in  more  common 
use  than  in  the  time  when  the  speeches  first  came  into 
existence,  is  probably  a  question  which  cannot  be  an- 
swered with  certainty.  It  is  certified  that  the  tetragram- 
maton was  known  to  the  patriarchs  Job  and  Abraham  ; 
and  the  true  view  is  that  it  took  a  new  specific  personal 
meaning  with  Moses  which  it  never  had  before. 

Thus  the  holy  names  El  and  Shaddai  appear  with  a 
most  commanding  prominence  on  the  face  of  the  book  of 
Job ;  and  to  them  must  be  joined  Eloah,  a  noun  of  the 
singular  number,  of  which  Elohim  is  the  plural,  and 
which  occurs  in  forty-one  places,  while  its  plural  form 
occurs  in  only  seventeen  places,  and  eleven  of  these  are 
in  the  first  two  chapters,  leaving  only  six  for  the  remain- 
ing forty  chapters.     The  remarkable  state  of  things  here 


A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  225 

lies  before  us  that  El  and  Shaddai  and  Eloah  are  su- 
premely prominent  in  the  book  of  Job,  that  they  are 
almost  banished  from  the  books  of  Moses  and  the  other 
parts  of  the  Bible, — not  entirely  banished,  and  the  word 
El  maintains  its  ground  better  than  the  others,  but,  with 
some  exception  in  its  favor,  the  three  are  almost  banished, 
— and  Divine  names  of  the  plural  form  and  plural  import 
fill  their  places. 

Job  is  decidedly  the  best  book  of  natural  theology  in 
the  Bible.  It  introduces  names  of  the  plural  number  for 
the  Deity  very  sparingly,  and  certainly  does  not  introduce 
them  on  the  ground  that  there  is  a  glare  of  majesty  in 
Elohim  the  plurality  more  than  in  Eloah  the  unity ;  it  in- 
vests both  El  and  Shaddai  with  majesty  the  most  holy 
and  the  most  brilliant  \  it  makes  very  few  references  to 
miracles;  the  speakers  carry  on  the  most  weighty  and 
profound  discussions  in  religion  without  references  to  a 
doctrine  as  certified  by  a  miracle,  or  a  precept  as  origi- 
nating from  a  miracle;  and,  all  things  considered,  it  is  the 
best  unitarian  book  in  the  Hebrew  canon.  If  the  wish 
is  to  find  a  unitarianism  diametrically  opposed  to  trini- 
tarianism,  to  find  a  genuine  unitarian  germ  which  grows 
up  in  an  exclusive  unity  and  which  cannot  have  its  de- 
velopment in  the  three  spreading  branches  of  trinitarian- 
ism.  Job  is  the  blooming  field  where  this  germ  is  likely 
to  be  found  in  preference  to  all  other  parts  of  the  Bible. 
Trinitarianism  would  never  have  had  any  hold  among 
Gentile  nations  if  they  had  always  made  the  man  of  Uz, 
who  was  one  of  themselves,  their  supreme  guide,  and  had 
never  turned  their  eyes  on  the  man  of  Nazareth  as  if  they 
must  expect  their  salvation  from  the  Jews. 

The  characteristic  and  apparently  anomalous  feature  in 
the  book  of  Job  is  the  manifest  and  complete  failure  in 
the  answer  which  comes  from  the  Lord  at  the  close  of 

K* 


2  26  A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

the  book.  Our  minds  may  here  revert  to  the  time  when 
a  President  of  the  United  States  died  at  Washington,  and 
the  funeral  cortege  occupied  a  special  train  of  cars  in 
conveying  the  remains  to  Springfield  for  interment. 
Behold  what  was  solemnly  moving  on  the  iron  track,  the 
special  train  with  the  hangings  of  black  on  each  car,  and 
the  heavy  dark  plumes,  while  the  mourning  family  and 
the  chief  men  of  the  government  were  the  passengers 
within.  Suppose  that  the  mournful  appearance  and  the 
slow  and  solemn  movement  had  raised  the  question  on 
the  road,  What  causes  yonder  special  train  to  be  moving? 
and  suppose  that  some  one  gave  an  elaborate  and  brilliant 
reply  on  the  mysteries  of  heat,  steam,  and  friction,  point- 
ing particularly  to  the  action  of  the  heat  on  the  boiler 
and.  pipes,  the  generation  of  the  steam,  the  expansive 
power  of  the  steam  in  the  cylinder  forcing  the  inclosed 
piston  from  end  to  end  and  bringing  every  wheel  into 
motion,  the  different  valves  which  confine  the  steam  in 
the  cylinder  and  let  it  escape  at  the  right  moment,  the 
apparatus  for  bringing  the  train  to  a  stop  almost  instantly, 
and  the  peculiar  feathers  of  the  ostrich  which  enter  into 
the  plumes, — it  is  clear  that  all  this,  however  interesting, 
would  still  not  be  the  proper  reply  to  the  question. 

This  may  illustrate  how  manifestly  the  answer  of  the 
Lord  to  Job,  at  the  close  of  the  book,  is  not  the  proper 
answer  to  the  great  question  of  the  book.  The  question 
which  runs  as  a  thread  through  all  the  book,  holding  all 
things  together,  is.  How  could  the  justice  of  God  permit 
such  heavy  afflictions  to  come  on  such  a  good  man  as  Job 
was  ?  The  whole  answer  of  the  Lord  is  the  expansion  of 
such  thoughts  as  these :  Behold  my  wisdom  and  power 
displayed  in  ihe  great  work  of  creation,  in  the  tracing 
of  those  lines  according  to  which  the  earth  was  first 
formed,  in  the  birth  of  the  ocean,  when  darkness  and 


A  DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  227 

clouds  were  the  garment  thrown  over  it  in  the  morning 
of  its  birth.  Behold  my  power  and  wisdom  in  the  floods 
of  light  that  come  on  the  earth  in  the  morning  and  depart 
in  the  evening,  in  the  mysteries  of  that  lower  world  that 
lies  beyond  the  gates  of  death,  in  the  circle  of  constella- 
tions which  the  sun  traverses  every  year,  in  the  brilliant 
Orion  of  the  winter,  and  the  sweet  Pleiades  of  the  spring, 
and  the  stars  of  the  north  that  never  touch  the  horizon. 
Behold  clouds,  and  rain,  and  snow,  and  hail,  and  torrents, 
and  obedient  lightnings,  floods  also,  bursting  out  in  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean,  all  testifying  to  my  power  and  wis- 
dom. The  same  incomprehensible  power  and  wisdom 
are  again  revealed  in  the  lion,  in  the  raven,  in  the  wild 
goats  of  the  rock,  in  the  wild  deer  of  the  forest,  in  the 
spirited  wild  ass,  in  the  unicorn  or  rhinoceros,  in  the 
ostrich,  in  the  war-horse,  in  the  hawk,  in  the  eagle,  in 
that  mighty  creature  found  where  land  and  sea  meet, 
the  behemoth  or  hippopotamus,  and  in  that  other  mighty 
creature  of  the  river,  the  leviathan  or  crocodile ;  in  the 
perfect  independence  of  all  help  of  man  which  most  of 
these  creatures  enjoy  in  their  self-protecting  instincts,  in 
their  care  or  apathy  towards  their  young,  and  in  that  wild 
felicity  which  rocks  and  deserts  and  the  highest  clouds 
cause  to  flow  around  them.  Behold  there  my  wisdom  in- 
finite, and  my  power  infinite ;  and  now  let  it  be  your 
feeling  that  your  power  is  only  weakness,  and  that  your 
wisdom  comes  to  nothing.  All  this  is  a  reply  of  dazzling 
sublimity;  but  still  not  one  ray  of  light  is  thrown  on  that 
dark  question,  why  the  excellent  Job  had  been  made  the 
most  miserable  of  all  living  men.  Let  all  the  stars  be 
brought  forward,  let  all  the  songs  of  the  sons  of  God  in 
the  morning  of  creation  bring  their  sublime  sound  to  the 
ears  of  man,  let  all  the  movements  of  clouds  and  fires  and 
floods  appear,  and  let  all  these  mentioned  creatures  and 


i 


2  28  A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

all  other  creatures  be  brought  forward  under  the  strongest 
light,  they  cannot  answer  the  question  why  man,  though 
he  may  be  a  friend  of  God,  must  be  a  child  of  woe.  Let 
it  not  be  branded  as  an  irreverent  decision  if  we  must 
decide  that  the  answer  of  the  Lord  was  a  transparent 
failure.  As  well  might  the  expansive  steam,  the  cylinder, 
the  valves,  the  powerful  engine,  the  rolling  wheels,  the 
dark  ostrich  plumes,  be  summoned  to  declare  why  the  cars 
were  transporting  the  lifeless  body  of  the  nation's  magis- 
trate, with  the  sorrowing  company. 

This  whole  reply  to  Job  has  the  appearance  of  a  failure 
from  the  fact  that  it  has  its  greatest  sublimity  at  the 
beginning,  and  its  weakness  gradually  and  regularly  in- 
creases to  the  close.  It  begins  among  the  stupendous 
events  of  creation,  walks  among  the  stars  and  clouds,  and 
then  descends  among  the  birds ;  touches  the  forest  and 
the  horse  in  the  battle,  and  ends  with  the  crocodile  in 
the  sea.  The  goodness  of  God  may  shine  in  the  stars 
and  clouds,  but  certainly  the  cruel  and  terrible  croco- 
dile is  one  of  the  last  animals  to  make  the  impression  on 
man  that  God  is  merciful.  The  argument  pursues  a  track 
where  it  sinks  continually  into  greater  weakness. 

Why  must  good  men  suffer  terribly  ?  One  may  give  the 
answer,  that  the  godly  and  the  ungodly  in  this  world  are 
like  wheat  and  chaff  on  the  threshing-floor :  both  must  re- 
ceive together  the  same  severe  knocks,  so  that  they  may 
be  finally  separated,  the  chaff  to  be  cast  away,  and  the 
wheat  to  be  preserved.  Another  may  give  the  answer, 
that  a  very  dismal  road  through  this  world  brings  out  the 
beauty  of  that  faith  which  never  doubts  that  the  Lord  is 
merciful.  Another  may  give  the  answer,  that  afflictions 
are  disciplinary;  they  are  the  means  of  conducting  men 
to  a  more  spiritual  and  holy  life  in  this  world.  Another 
may  give  the  answer,  that  the  greater  the  good  man's  loss 


A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  229 

in  this  world,  the  richer  will  be  his  gain  in  the  life  after 
'death.  But  the  Lord  here  does  not  unfold  either  of 
these  views,  or  any  other  view.  The  great  question  is 
evaded. 

The  answer  substitutes  the  sublimity  of  nature  for  the 
sublimity  of  such  religious  subjects ;  and  the  moral  sub- 
limity in  the  speeches  of  Job's  friends  disappears  from  it. 
Who  has  not  been  thrilled  with  the  moral  majesty  of  the 
last  speech  of  Zophar,  where  he  describes  how  the  great- 
ness of  the  hypocrite  may  reach  to  heaven,  but  God  will 
cut  him  down  in  a  moment,  and  that  the  wicked  man  may 
have  the  most  brilliant  prosperity  on  the  earth,  but  while 
he  is  sitting  at  his  table  with  all  his  choice  provisions 
before  him,  and  all  displays  of  wealth  around  him,  his 
eyes  beaming  most  gracefully  through  his  golden  specta- 
cles, suddenly  the  arrow  of  the  Almighty  cuts  through  his 
liver,  and  shows  itself  in  his  other  side,  where  its  point 
is  dripping  with  his  gall?  But  this  principle,  that  pros- 
pering wickedness  must  end  in  a  terrific  fall,  scarcely 
comes  to  view  anywhere  in  the  Lord's  reply  to  Job.  Or 
who  has  not  admired  the  moral  pictures  in  the  speech 
of  Elihu,  and  particularly  his  peculiar  view  that  terrible 
calamities  sometimes  come  on  a  man,  his  flesh  departs, 
his  bones  lose  almost  all  their  covering  and  they  are 
thrown  into  excruciating  pain,  his  mind  becomds  be- 
wildered, his  conscience  echoes  with  terrible  sounds,  and 
his  life  is  brought  into  the  shadow  of  death,  but  all  this 
is  only  one  way  in  which  God  calls  the  man  to  himself, 
and  all  ends  in  blessings  to  the  sufferer  because  his  soul  is 
snatched  from  the  pit  ?  But  such  an  explanation  of  the 
design  of  calamities  has  no  place  in  the  Lord's  reply  to 
Job.  The  moral  aspects  of  Job's  case  were  earnestly  and 
brilliantly  discussed  by  the  friends,  but  the  reply  of  the 
Lord  leaves  these  aspects  out  entirely.     This  is  one  of 


230  A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

the  mysteries  of  the  book :  it  was  the  moral  question  that 
was  brought  before  the  Lord  to  be  decided. 

The  failure  is  still  more  clearly  proved  when  the  close 
of  the  book  is  collated  with  the  beginning,  or  when  the 
Lord's  reply  is  compared  with  the  narrative  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  book.  The  Lord's  reply  contained  no  true 
account  of  the  origin  and  cause  of  Job's  afflictions.  Ac- 
cording to  the  statement  at  the  beginning  of  the  book, 
the  afflictions  of  Job  originated  in  a  council  of  the  sons 
of  God  in  heaven,  where  the  charge  was  made  against 
Job  that  his  worldly  prosperity  filled  his  heart,  and  that 
all  his  religion  was  nothing  better  than  selfishness  and 
hypocrisy ;  and  then  Satan  went  forth  with  a  grant  of  full 
power  to  bring  every  possible  calamity  on  Job,  short  of 
the  stroke  of  death  itself,  to  try  the  genuineness  of  his 
religion.  The  Lord  did  not  explain  to  Job  that  all  his 
afflictions  came  directly  from  the  hand  of  a  dark,  malig- 
nant, revengeful  spirit,  delighting  in  accusations  and 
habitually  distrusting  all  human  sincerity ;  but  this  was 
the  only  true  explanation,  and  the  reply  without  this 
explanation  must  be  a  failure. 

Supposing  that  the  failure  has  been  clearly  set  forth  and 
must  be  admitted,  I  now  advance  to  the  position  that  this 
complete  failure  is  the  essential  part  of  the  plan  of  the  book, 
and  the  true  key  for  unlocking  the  whole,  and  that  the  su- 
preme excellence  of  the  book  has  its  centre  here.  1  find  it 
to  be  the  object  of  the  book  to  set  forth  two  great  lessons : 

I.  The  first  great  lesson  of  the  book  is  that  our 
world  is  not  isolated,  but  is  closely  connected  with  a 
higher  world  ;  the  human  race  on  earth  are  closely  con- 
nected with  the  higher  world  of  the  sons  of  God,  so  that 
joys  and  sorrows  come  to  us  from  their  invisible  hands. 
The  affliction  of  Job  originated  in  the  council  of  the  sons 
of  God  in  heaven.     There  was  a  mighty  invisible  agent 


A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  231 

which  controlled  the  fire,  lightning,  tornado,  robbery, 
and  bloodshed,  which  swept  everything  from  Job  in  one 
day.  There  was  an  invisible  agent  called  Satan,  that 
touched  the  body  of  Job  with  the  most  disagreeable 
and  sickening  eruptions  and  poured  horrors  into  his  soul. 
What  occurs  on  earth  cannot  be  understood  except  in  the 
light  of  what  is  designed  in  heaven.  When  a  man  sinks 
down  to  the  pit,  cords  from  heaven  may  be  letting  him 
down.  When  a  man  ascends  towards  God,  cords  that 
are  held  by  the  hands  of  angels  may  be  drawing  him  up. 
Mighty  wheels  are  now  going  round,  only  the  lower  part 
of  which  can  be  seen  from  the  earth,  while  the  higher 
part  is  moving  among  the  angels  and  invisible  to  us,  and 
the  celestial  hand  that  turns  them  is  invisible.  All  the 
subjects  of  the  moral  government  of  God  are  not  on  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  there  are  other  and  higher  worlds 
of  them,  and  all  these  worlds  are  in  a  sympathetic  and 
directly  co-operative  connection  with  us,  and  the  deep 
mysteries  of  this  connection  cannot  now  be  fathomed. 

A  similar  idea  runs  through  the  religions  of  heathenism. 
Homer  sings  how  the  decree  of  Jupiter  controlled  all  the 
transactions  at  Troy,  from  the  quarrel  of  Agamemnon  and 
Achilles  to  the  death  of  Hector.  He  exhibits  the  Trojan 
war  as  going  forward  in  subordination  to  the  counsel 
and  control  of  the  gods.  It  was  often  a  celestial  hand 
that  saved  a  hero  when  otherwise  he  must  instantly  have 
perished.  Every  religion  had  its  peculiar  ideas  of  invis- 
ible celestial  beings  that  directed  and  controlled  transac- 
tions on  earth  ,  and  the  ideas  on  this  point  indicated  the 
purity  or  the  degradation  and  superstition  of  each  religion. 

2.  The  second  great  lesson  of  the  book  is  that  the 
stupendous  miracle  of  creation  constitutes  one  volume, 
and  the  later  miracles  of  God's  grace  constitute  another 
volume ;    and  there   are  questions   pertaining  to  man's 


232  A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOb!' 

afflictions  in  this  life  which  God  himself  does  not  answer 
from  the  first  volume,  but  which  must  receive  the  true 
answer  from  the  volume  that  instructs  us  in  the  miracles  of 
grace.  The  human  soul  needs  to  learn  in  both  the  school 
of  nature  and  the  school  of  faith ;  and  the  school  of  nature 
alone^is  utterly  inadequate  to  educate  it.  A  chief  object 
of  the  book  of  Job  is  to  illustrate  the  relations  between 
these  two  schools,  or  to  place  the  school  of  nature  on  its 
own  proper  ground  and  form  an  accurate  sketch  of  that 
large  and  sublime  field,  the  whole  of  which  belongs  to 
the  school  of  faith. 

The  wisdom  and  power  of  God  constitute  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  theological  lesson  that  can  be  learned  in  the 
great  school  of  nature.  The  sources  of  instruction  in  this 
school  are  innumerable.  Behold  here  the  wonders  of  the 
material  and  immaterial  creation,  and  of  growth,  develop- 
ment, revolution,  and  catastrophe,  through  the  wide 
realm  of  nature  in  countless  ages  ;  and  here  behold  the 
stars  that  have  ceased  to  shine  and  the  stars  that  now 
light  up  our  sky,  the  stars  that  blaze  along  the  sun's  path 
through  the  year,  and  the  other  stars  which  never  pause 
in  their  nightly  march  around  their  northern  centre ;  the 
light  of  sun  and  moon  ;  the  rain ;  the  snow ;  the  hail  ; 
the  flashing  clouds  breaking  up  in  thunders  ;  the  eagle  ; 
the  lion  ;  the  wild  goat ;  the  unicorn  ;  the  ostrich  ;  the 
horse ;  the  behemoth  ;  the  crocodile  ;  and  to  these  may 
be  added  that  darkness  that  has  an  unlimited  domain 
beyond  the  gate  of  death  :  all  these  come  to  man  with 
wonderful  instructions  in  the  school  of  nature,  and  the 
longer  he  listens  to  their  voice  the  more  he  feels  that  he 
can  never  penetrate  all  their  mysteries.  But  still  the 
infinite  power  of  God  and  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God  are 
nearly  all  that  they  teach  in  theology.  Ask  them  why 
the  best  men  often  have  the  greatest  amount  of  affliction, 


A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  233 

while  the  wicked  live  in  prosperity  and  joy ;  and  they  have 
no  answer  to  give.  Ask  them  why  Job,  the  best  man  in 
the  world,  was  plunged  into  the  deepest  suffering  of  both 
body  and  mind  ;  and  the  only  answer  that  they  have  is 
the  Divine  power  infinite  and  the  Divine  wisdom  infinite. 
All  such  questions  must  be  taken  from  the  school  of 
nature,  and  transferred  to  the  higher  school  of  faith.  If 
it  is  the  question  why  God  permits  the  wicked  man  to 
prosper  and  wield  power  as  if  he  were  the  best  man, 
while  the  good  man  must  live  in  deep  sorrow  as  if  he 
were  the  least  worthy  of  God's  notice ;  or  if  it  is  the 
question  why  the  worst  man  is  permitted  to  die  in  peace 
and  honor,  while  the  .good  man  dies  in  terror  and  dis- 
honor ;  or,  what  are  the  relations  between  mankind  and 
a  higher  world  of-worshiping  beings  where  there  is  neither 
sin  nor  death  ?  or,  what  are  the  relations  between  human 
souls  still  living  in  the  body  and  the  human  souls  that 
have  passed  beyond  the  gate  of  death  ?  or,  what  is  that 
atonement  in  blood  whiclf  really  covers  sin  from  the  sight 
of  God  ?  or,  how  may  man  attain  to  perfect  peace  with 
God  ?  or,  does  the  gate  of  death  open  into  a  world  of 
unmitigated  darkness,  or  has  a  light  arisen  in  that  world  ? 
or  if  the  question  is  how  man  could  be  originally  a  holy 
being  as  he  came  from  the  hand  of  God,  and  then  ever 
change  into  such  a  being  as  a  malignant  blasphemer  of 
the  holy  name ;  or  if  the  simple  question  is  how  such 
a  good  man  as  Job  could  come  to  curse  the  day  of 
his  birth, — it  is  clear  that  all  such  questions  cannot  be 
touched  in  the  school  of  nature,  but  must  go  up  to  the 
higher  school  of  faith.  The  Lord  himself,  teaching  in  the 
school  of  nature,  gave  Job  no  satisfaction  on  any  one 
of  these  c^uestions,  but  from  all  the  high  and  low  ranges 
of  nature,  from  the  stars  over  the  head  and  the  leviathan 
at  the  feet  of  man,  the  only  answer  was  that  no  one  can 

20* 


234  A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB. 

comprehend  God's  power  and  no  one  can  comprehend 
his  wisdom.  The  holiness  of  God,  the  principles  of  his 
moral  government,  his  purposes  presiding  over  the  moral 
confusion  and  woes  that  fill  the  earth,  and  the  final  results 
of  a  life  of  religion  and  a  life  of  wickedness,  must  be 
learned  in  the  school  of  fiiith,  or  they  must  remain  in 
confusion  and  uncertainty. 

This  faith  must  have  a  special  revelation  from  God  for 
its  foundation,  otherwise  it  has  nothing  to  rest  on ;  and 
hence  the  complete  failure  in  the  Lord's  reply  to  Job  to 
place  the  great  question  in  a  clear  light  was  designed  to 
exhibit  the  wide  and  tremendous  vacancy  which  a  Divine 
revelation  comes  to  fill.  This  places  the  book  of  Job  in 
a  most  interesting  relation  to  the  other  books  of  the  in- 
spired canon.  It  exhibits  the  yawning,  terrific  chasm; 
the  other  books  build  up  the  walls  of  eternal  strength  in 
this  chasm.  It  exhibits  the  questions  which  the  school  of 
nature  utterly  fails  to  answer,  and  even  fails  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  himself  to  answer.  The  other  books  furnish 
that  special  infallible  revelation  from  heaven  in  which 
the  true  answers  to  these  questions  are  found.  The  three 
friends  of  Job  were  guilty  before  God  because  they  had 
attempted  to  decide,  at  the  presumptuous  tribunal  of  their 
own  reason,  those  questions  which  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion has  come  into  the  world  to  decide ;  and  they  were 
required  to  offer  sacrifices  for  their  sin.  Job  also  ab- 
horred himself  and  repented  in  dust  and  ashes,  because 
he,  though  lese  guilty  than  they,  had  attempted  to  explain 
things  beyond  his  reach. 

This  book  exhibits  the  awfulness  of  the  darkness  of 
nature;  the  other  books  of  Holy  Scripture  emit  the  new 
light  which  is  above  nature.  It  proves  how  very  little 
theological  light  we  have  if  we  are  left  to  the  one  stu- 
pendous miracle  of  creation ;  the  other  books  make  us 


A   DISSERTATION  ON  JOB.  235 

acquainted  with  the  later  miracles  of  God's  grace  in  the 
lives  of  Abraham,  Moses,  and  many  other  prophets.  Job 
is  the  outer  court  of  the  Gentiles,  but  the  other  parts  of 
the  Bible  are  the  inner  courts,  close  to  the  holy  temple, 
where  the  true  worshipers  come  nearest  to  God. 

It  may  also  be  a  part  of  the  design  of  this  book  to  teach 
us  that  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God  are 
never  to  be  doubted  ;  and  so,  whatever  difficulties  we  may 
find  in  the  introduction  of  sin  into  our  world,  and  the 
permission  of  its  continued  existence,  we  must  always 
abhor  every  theory  which  can  suppose  any  deficiency  in 
either  the  power  of  God,  or  his  wisdom,  or  his  goodness. 


QUESTIONS 

DESIGNED  TO  ASSIST  IN  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FOREGOING  LETTERS. 


LETTER    I. 


In  what  light  did  the  Christian  community  appear  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  Maimonides  ? 

Are  Christians  willing  to  be  ranked  among  the  heathen, 
without  the  privilege  of  making  a  defense  ? 

Does  the  verse  (Deut.  vi.  4)  "Hear,  O  Israel:  The 
Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord,"  pass  among  the  Jews  as  the 
most  holy  and  weighty  in  the  Bible  ? 

Is  it  their  watchword,  and  is  it  called  the  Shemah 
Yisrael  ? 

Mention  how  a  rabbi  in  a  synagogue  in  Jerusalem 
used  this  watchword  to  turn  all  eyes  in  scorn  on  a  Chris- 
tian missionary  who  had  just  entered. 

How  often  does  the  tetragrammaton  occur  in  this  verse? 

As  it  is  never  read  aloud  by  strict  Jews,  what  is  the 
word  substituted  for  it  ? 

Is  Adonat,  then,  always  heard  twice  in  the  reading  of 
this  verse  ? 

How  often  is  the  Divine  name  Adonai  found  in  all  the 
Bible? 

Is  it  properly  a  noun  of  the  plural  number? 

Does  Adon  mean  Lord  ? 

Does  Adoni  mean  My  Lord,  as  in  Ps.  ex.  i  ? 
236 


QUESTIONS.  237 

Does  Adonai,  the  Divine  name,  mean  My  Lords,  or 
Lords  ? 

Commencing  our  search  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Bible,  with  whom  do  we  find  the  Divine  name  Adonai 
first  in  use  ? 

How  often  is  it  found  as  a  word  used  by  Abraham  ? 

Is  it  found  first  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Genesis? 

How  often  does  it  occur  in  this  chapter? 

Does  this  chapter  contain  the  account  of  the  covenant 
made  with  Abraham  by  passing  between  the  pieces  of 
sacrificed  animals? 

How  did  the  passing  between  the  pieces  indicate  the 
establishment  of  a  covenant  ? 

Did  God,  in  that  covenant,  reveal  his  presence  in  three 
forms  :  first,  the  horrible  darkness ;  secondly,  the  smoking 
furnace,  passing  between  the  pieces  to  accept  the  sacri- 
fices;   and  thirdly,  the  burning  lamp? 

Does  the  Lord  dwell  in  the  thick  darkness  ? 

Can  a  special  signification  be  given  to  the  smoking 
furnace  ? 

Can  a  special  signification  be  given  to  the  burning 
lamp  as  the  illuminator? 

What  chapter  of  Genesis  contains  the  third  place  where 
Adonai  is  found  in  the  Bible  ? 

When  that  rabbi  in  Jerusalem  was  proclaiming  the 
Shcmah  Yisrael,  to  cause  the  missionary  to  feel  ashamed, 
is  it  probable  that  he  had  the  verses  of  the  eighteenth 
chapter  of  Genesis  in  his  mind,  "And  Jehovah  appeared 
to  him  in  the  plains  of  Mamre  :  and  he  sat  in  the  tent 
door  in  the  heat  of  the  day.  And  he  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
and  looked,  and  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him  :  and  when 
he  saw,  he  ran  to  meet  them  from  the  tent  door,  and 
bowed  himself  toward  the  ground,  and  said,  Adonai,  if 
now  I  have  found  favor  in   thine  eyes;" — and   that  it 


238  QUESTIONS. 

could  occur  to  him  that  Adonai  here  stands  for  three 
persons  as  well  as  for  a  Unity  ? 

Does  Aben  Ezra  appear  to  take  this  Adonai  in  the 
secular  meaning,  and  not  in  the  Divine  meaning  ? 

If  he  does,  does  the  Talmud  agree  with  him  ? 

Does  Onkelos  agree  with  him  ? 

Does  the  law  for  the  scribes  of  the  Pentateuch  agree 
with  hiin  ? 

Does  the  Masoretic  pointing  agree  with  him  ? 

After  Abraham  had  thus  addressed  the  three  as  Adonai, 
how  often  did  he  again  use  this  holy  word  in  his  conver- 
sation with  them  in  the  same  afternoon  ? 

Did  Abraham  ever  mention  Adonai  except  in  prayer? 
.  When  Lot  addressed  the  two  angels  that  same  evening 
with  the  secular  Adonai,  is  it  still  clearly  of  the  plural 
number  ? 

When  Lot,  the  next  morning,  uttered  the  holy  Adonai 
in  prayer,  was  it  clearly  a  plural  word  ? 

Does  Jonathan  ben  Uzziel  deserve  censure  for  marring 
the  text  in  making  it  read  that  Lot  said  to  him,  Adonai, 
whereas  the  original  text  is  that  Lot  said  to  them,  Adonai? 

May  not  both  the  Almighty  and  created  angels  be 
united  in  the  word  Adonai  to  give  it  its  plurality  ? 

When  Moses  prayed  that  Adonai  might  go  up  with  the 
people  through  the  wilderness,  had  he  any  reference  to 
any  created  angel  ? 

When  Adonai  appeared  in  vision  to  Isaiah,  is  there  any 
probability  that  any  of  the  seraphim,  or  any  created 
beings,  entered  into  the  word  along  with  the  Creator  to 
be  the  foundation  of  its  plurality  ? 

When  Daniel  repeated  Adonai  so  often  in  his  one  great 
prayer,  is  there  any  possibility  that  he  found  both  the 
Creator  and  created  beings  in  the  word,  and  accepted  this 
as  the  explanation  of  its  plurality  ? 


QUESTIONS.  239 

When  the  word  occurs  fourteen  times  in  the  Lamenta- 
tions of  Jeremiah,  does  anything  look  like  ajunion  of  the 
Creator  and  any  created  beings  to  account  for  its  plurality? 

Does  Adonai,  therefore,  look  like  a  coin  coming  new 
and  glittering  from  the  mint  of  Abraham  and  stamped 
with  a  triad  on  its  face  ? 

What  might  be  suspected  or  feared  concerning  an 
Adonai  purporting  to  be  a  coin  from  the  mint  of  Abra- 
ham, but  with  no  trace  of  the  triad  on  its  face  ? 

What  has  Jesus  taught  concerning  the  Shcmah  Yisracl, 
in  Mark  xii.  29  ? 

LETTER    IL 

Having  dismissed  the  term  Adonai,  when  we  take  up 
the  tetragrammaton  are  we  now  commencing  with  the 
terms  found  in  the  original  text  ? 

How  often  is  the  tetragrammaton  found  in  the  original 
text,  the  Shemah  Yisrael  ? 

Is  the  tetragrammaton  ever  applied  to  any  person  that 
is  not  included  in  the  Eternal  Being  ? 

If  there  is  a  plurality  in  it,  must  this  plurality  be  within 
the  Deity  ? 

Is  the  tetragrammaton  inflexibly  of  the  singular  num- 
ber? 

Is  the  word  Jehovah  ever  found  in  the  plural  ? 

Is  the  phrase  Holy  Gods,  with  this  singular  feature,  that 
the  adjective  holy  is  plural  as  well  as  the  noun,  ever  an- 
nexed to  Jehovah,  to  fill  the  place  of  a  definition  of  the 
term  ? 

Where  does  this  occur  ? 

Give  an  etymological  analysis  of  the  tetragrammaton. 

The  future  time,  where  does  it  stand  ? 

The  past  time,  where  does  it  stand  ? 


240  QUESTIONS. 

The  present  time,  where  does  it  stand  ? 

May  that  verse  in  the  New  Testament,  "  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him,"  be 
illustrated  by  the  present  moment,  which,  though  so 
transient  and  limited,  represents  all  the  infinite  past  and 
is  equal  in  worth  to  all  the  past  ? 

■Does  the  infinite  future  depend  on  the  transient  present 
and  the  changeless  past  ? 

If  one  asks  the  question  why  four  persons  might  not 
be  in  the  Trinity  as  well  as  three,  might  it  as  well  be 
asked  why  we  have  three  times,  the  infinite  future,  the 
present,  and  the  infinite  past,  and  cannot  add  a  fourth 
time  ? 

Do  the  three  times  in  the  tetragrammaton  furnish  three 
personal  names  designating  the  Eternal  Essence  ? 

What  separate  personal  name  does  the  future  tense  in 
the  tetragrammaton  furnish  ? 

To  whom  was  the  name  I-will-be-that-I-will-be  first 
made  known  ? 

Can  this  name  be  shared  by  any  created  being  in  con- 
junction with  God  ? 

Does  the  Holy  Ghost  appear  to  have  his  office  especially 
in  the  infinite  future  ? 

What  separate  personal  name  does  the  past  tense  in  the 
tetragrammaton  furnish  ? 

Where  is  the  name  Jah  first  found  in  the  Bible? 

Where  is  the  oath  involving  perpetual  war  against 
Amalek  mentioned  as  being  made  with  the  hand  on  the 
throne  of  Jah  ? 

Mention  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  great  work  of 
creation  has  been  connected  with  the  name  Jah. 

In  what  book  does  the  verse  occur,  "Extol  him  who 
rideth  upon  the  heavens  by  his  name  JAH  "  ? 


QUESTIONS.  241 

Is  the  essential  idea  of  the  name  Jah,  God  before  all, 
or  God  the  eternal  rock  of  strength  ? 

What  separate  personal  name  does  the  present  tense  in 
the  tetragrammaton  furnish? 

Did  Moses  receive  the  tetragrammaton  with  a  new 
meaning  which  the  patriarchs  had  not  known,  though 
they  were  all  acquainted  with  the  word  ? 

When  the  Lord  gave  his  name  to  Moses  at  the  rock  of 
Horeb,  after  the  worship  of  the  golden  idol,  and  pro- 
claimed "Jehovah,  Jehovah,  God,  merciful,"  etc.,  does  it 
appear  the  most  consistent  interpretation  that  the  first 
Jehovah  was  the  patriarchal,  and  the  second  was  the  one 
newly  reveal6l  to  Moses? 

Does  this  new  Mosaic  tetragrammaton  appear  to  hold 
his  place  in  the  interjacent  present  tense,  as  I-will-be-that- 
I-will-be  has  a  place  in  the  infinite  future,  and  Jah  has  a 
place  in  the  infinite  past  ? 

Does  this  newly-revealed  tetragrammaton,  with  the 
I-will-be-that-I-will-be  and  the  Jah,  make  the  complete 
Trinity? 

Is  the  ineffable  name  uniformly  translated  in  the 
Septuagint  and  the  New  Testament  by  the  word  Kurios 
(Lord)  ? 

Is  Jesus  often  called  Lord  {Kurios)  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ? 

Did  Jesus  take  to  himself  the  name  Lord  ? 

Was  prayer  ever  made  to  him  as  being  Lord  ? 

Can  you  give  six  instances  in  the  New  Testament  where 
Jesus  is  called  Lord  ? 

If  the  term  Lord,  which  Jesus  assumed,  was  the  trans- 
lation of  the  ineffable  name,  must  it  be  referred  to  the 
new  tetragrammaton  which  was  revealed  to  Moses,  rather 
than  to  the  patriarchal  tetragrammaton  ? 

As  this  new  interjacent  tetragrammaton  was  limited  on 


242  QUESTIONS. 

one  hand  by  Ehyeh  ashcr  Ehyeh,  and  on  the  other  hand 
by  Jah,  is  the  Lord  Jesus  likewise  limited  on  the  one 
hand  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  on  the  other  hand  by  the 
Father  ? 

Since  Pharaoh  attributed  the  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
future  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  does  this  prove  that  there  is  a 
special  propriety  in  assigning  the  term  I-will-be-that-I- 
will-be  to  the  Holy  Spirit  ? 

Do  the  terms  Jah,  in  Mosaic  theology,  and  Father  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  in  Christian  theology,  appear  equally  to 
point  back  into  the  infinite  past  ? 

Is  the  tetragrammaton  the  proper  name  for  God,  and 
does  it  stand  for  his  essence,  his  eternal  life,  and  not 
grow  out  of  any  particular  attribute  or  work? 

Is  it  also  proved  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  be  an  appel- 
lative as  well  as  a  proper  noun? 

Does  the  phrase  Jehovah  of  hosts,  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  Hebrew  language,  prove  the  appellative 
character  of  the  tetragrammaton  ? 

Why  was  the  most  holy  name,  the  exclusive  and  essen- 
tial name  of  God,  permitted  to  make  a  transition  into  the 
character  of  an  appellative,  and  still,  as  an  appellative, 
retaining  all  its  original  holiness? 

Did  the  word  lose  so  much  as  the  least  share  of  its 
original  strength  in  passing  into  the  character  of  an 
appellative  ? 

Is  the  word  Kiirios  (Lord),  which  translates  it,  clearly 
an  appellative  ? 

Explain  how  we  find  Kiu-ios  to  be  an  appellative  in  the 
New  Testament  where  it  is  also  the  Divine  name. 

Explain  how  Kurios  is  an  appellative  in  the  first  verse 
of  the  Epistle  of  James. 

If  the  appellative  character  of  the  tetragrammaton  and 
the  appellative  character  of  Kurios  are  proved  to  be  per- 


QUESTIONS.  243 

fectly  the  same,  does  this  raise  an  insurmountable  diffi- 
cuhy  in  the  way  of  unitarianism  ? 

Does  a  truly  consistent  unitarianism  demand  that  the 
tetragrammaton  preserve  its  strict,  substantive,  individual, 
untransferable  import,  even  more  so  than  the  term  God 
Almighty,  and  never  assume  one  of  the  features  of  a 
common  noun  ? 

Does  Jehovah,  as  an  appellative,  begin  to  spread  over 
the  field  of  inspiration  about  the  time  of  David,  and  come 
to  abound  wonderfully  in  the  last  prophets  of  the  Jewish 
canon,  as  if  it  has  taken  the  whole  field? 

Does  it  bloom  more  thickly  in  Zechariah,  Haggai,  and 
Malachi  than  in  all  the  earlier  parts  of  Scripture  ? 

Are  its  blooms  more  numerous  in  Malachi,  over  the 
same  space,  than  in  all  other  parts  of  the  Hebrew  canon  ? 

Does  this  increasing  abundance  of  the  tetragrammaton 
in  its  appellative  character  look  like  the  morning  star  of 
a  new  dispensation  ? 

LETTER    III. 

If  the  appellative  import  of  the  tetragrammaton  is  the 
Upholder  of  the  intclUge)it  hosts  of  the  universe  by  a  constant 
viiracle,  does  this  likewise  define  the  term  Son  of  God, 
in  the  New  Testament  ? 

Does  John  testify  that  the  glory  of  Jesus,  in  his  life  of 
miraculous  beneficence,  was  the  glory  of  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth  ? 

Did  Jesus,  in  the  possession  of  a  true  body  and  a  reason- 
able soul,  exist  in  eternity? 

If  he  did  not  possess  his  human  body  and  soul  in 
eternity,  does  it  follow  that  as  the  son  of  David  he  began 
to  exist  in  time,  like  any  other  son  of  David  ? 

Is  it  the  orthodox  Christian  theology  that  Jesus  as  the 


244  QUESTIONS. 

son  of  David  belongs  to  time,  but  that  as  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father  he  belongs  to  eternity  ? 

Did  the  Son  of  God,  belonging  to  eternity,  take,  at  a 
certain  point  in  time,  a  true  human  body  and  a  true 
human  soul  to  himself  in  a  union  that  should  last  always? 
Is  this  the  orthodox  doctrine? 

In  this  indissoluble  union,  did  either  humanity  change 
into  Deity  or  Deity  change  into  humanity?  was  there  any 
mixture  of  the  two  natures  so  as  to  affect  the  essential 
properties  of  either  ? 

Would  any  theory  involving  such  a  mixture  be  counted 
a  great  error  in  theology  ? 

What  was  the  meaning  when  Jesus  was  called  on  in  the 
wilderness,  as  the  Son  of  God,  to  change  the  stones  into 
bread  ? 

Why  was  it  suggested  to  him  that,  being  the  Son  of 
God,  he  could  not  be  destroyed  by  a  fall  from  the  pin- 
nacle of  the  temple? 

Did  the  first  attack  that  was  ever  made  on  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus  consist  in  a  doubt  thrown  on  the  title  Son 
of  God  ? 

How  did  Jesus  defend  his  right  to  work  on  the  sabbath 
day? 

When  he  called  God  his  Father,  did  the  Jews  under- 
stand him  as  making  himself  equal  to  God  ? 

Explain  that  remarkable  saying,  "  Before  Abraham  was, 
lam." 

Does  this  remarkable  saying  place  the  Son  of  God 
where  the  present  tense  is,  in  the  centre  of  the  tetra- 
grammaton,  if  the  saying  can  be  proved  to  be  truthful? 

What  is  the  highest  jiroof  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God? 

If  the  resurrection  from  the  dead  did  occur,  must  it 
have  been  a  miracle? 


QUESTIONS.  245 

Was  it  such  a  miracle  as  only  omnipotence  could 
work? 

Does  omnipotence  ever  give  its  hand  to  help  anything 
that  is  not  true  ? 

Is  the  whole  Christian  faith  either  true  or  false  accord- 
ing to  the  truth  or  want  of  truth  in  the  story  of  the  resur- 
rection ? 

Were  the  witnesses  of  the  resurrection  numbered  by 
hundreds? 

Did  he  appear  to  his  disciples  alive,  at  different  times 
and  in  different  places,  after  he  had  died  on  the  cross  ? 

Is  it  possible  that  his  resurrection  was  not  true,  and  that 
the  disciples  did  not  know  that  it  was  not  true  ? 

Could  the  report  of  his  resurrection  on  the  third  day  be 
first  started  at  the  Pentecost  seven  weeks  after  his  cruci- 
fixion, and  then  be  believed  by  any  person  ? 

Was  it  possible  that  the  disciples  stole  him  away  from 
the  sepulchre  and  their  tracks  could  not  be  followed  ? 

Was  the  full  moon  shining  all  the  night  ? 

How  could  the  disciples,  even  if  they  were  the  most 
artful  deceivers,  hope  to  make  an  imperishable  name  for 
themselves  by  the  possession  of  his  dead  body  ? 

Is  it  probable  that  it  ever  once  occurred  to  them  to  re- 
move his  body  from  the  sepulchre  ? 

Why  could  not  the  dead  body  be  found  by  either  friend 
or  foe  after  Sunday  morning? 

Why  did  not  the  Pharisees  exhibit  the  dead  body  before 
witnesses,  and  thus  hush  effectually  the  false  story  ? 

LETTER    IV. 

What  is  the  other  Divine  name  joined  with  the  tetra- 
grammaton  in  the  text  at  the  head  of  this  book,  the 
watchword  of  Israel  ? 


246  QUESTIONS. 

Is  Elohhn  (God)  properly  of  the  plural  number  ? 

Is  Eloah  the  noun  in  the  singular  number  of  which  it 
is  the  plural  ? 

Are  there  a  few  texts  in  which  an  adjective  in  the  plural 
number,  or  a  verb  in  the  plural  number,  is  found  agreeing 
with  Elohim? 

How  many  times  does  Elohim  occur  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis  ? 

How  many  times  does  Eloah  occur  in  all  the  five  books 
of  Moses  ? 

Is  it  in  the  same  chapter,  the  thirty-second  of  Deuter- 
onomy, where  Eloah  occurs  twice? 

Are  the  Divine  names  Eloah  and  El,  and  Shaddai  and 
El  Shaddai,  names  concerning  which  there  can  be  no 
question  that  they  are  of  the  singular  number  ? 

Are  they  the  most  suitable  names  to  express  the  unita- 
rian idea  of  God  ? 

Did  Moses  find  these  names  of  the  singular  number,  as 
possessing  a  supreme  lustre  among  the  patriarchs?  and 
did  he  deprive  them  of  their  supremacy  and  put  other 
names  of  unquestionable  plurality  in  their  place  ? 

How  often  is  Eloah  found  in  the  book  of  Job? 

How  often  is  El  found  in  the  oracles  of  Balaam  ? 

How  often  is  ^/ found  in  the  book  of  Job? 

How  often  is  Shaddai  found  in  the  book  of  Job? 

How  many  verses  are  there  in  Job  consisting  of  two 
parallel  clauses,  in  which  one  clause  contains  El,  and  the 
other  clause  Shaddai,  corresponding  to  it? 

What  are  the  facts  showing  that  Moses  completely 
banished  the  word  Shaddai  from  the  proper  Mosaic  theo- 
logical vocabulary,  and  sent  the  word  El  a  good  part  of 
the  way  along  with  it  ? 

Is  there  any  term  which  is  more  decidedly  a  proper 
name  for  God,  and  more  clearly  expressive  of  his  unity, 


QUESTIONS.  247 

and  more  unchangeable  in  its  meaning,  and  more  repug- 
nant to  all  plurality,  than  the  term  Shaddai? 

Would  unitarianism  have  been  more  favored  if  Moses 
had  retained  these  Divine  names,  and  especially  Shaddai, 
in  their  patriarchal  popularity,  and  not  changed  them  for 
other  names  of  the  plural  number  ? 

In  those  verses  of  Scripture  where  the  unity  and  su- 
premacy of  God  are  placed  in  the  sharpest  antagonism  to 
all  polytheism,  are  the  Divine  names  which  are  made 
most  prominent,  of  the  plural  number  ? 

In  the  expressions  God  of  gods  and  Lord  of  lords,  is  the 
first  word  God  found  in  the  Hebrew  to  be  plural  as  well 
as  the  second,  and  the  first  word  Lord  found  to  be  plural 
as  well  as  the  second  ? 

How  will  it  do  to  compare  the  Divine  plurality  in  the 
phraseology  of  Moses  with  the  Divine  plurality  in  the 
following  language  of  John,  the  last  prophet  of  the  New 
Testament  ? — 

"Grace  be  unto  you,  and  peace,  from  him  which  is, 
and  which  was,  and  which  is  to  come ;  and  from  the 
seven  Spirits  which  are  before  his  throne  ; 

''And  from  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  the  faithful  witness,  and 
the  first  begotten  of  the  dead,  and  the  prince  of  the  kings 
of  the  earth.  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us 
from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 

"And  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and 
his  Father." 

LETTER    V. 

May  the  difference  between  the  trinitarian  and  the 
unitarian  interpretation  of  the  Shemah  Yisrael  be  illus- 
trated by  the  difference  between  E  phiribus  unum  (more 
making  one)  and  Ex  uno  uniim  (one  making  one)  ? 


248  '  QUESTIONS. 

Does  the  Trinitarian  find  the  essential  value  of  this 
text  in  its  intrinsic  truth,  while  the  Unitarian  finds  its 
essential  value  in  its  extrinsic  truth  or  its  antagonism  to 
idolatry  ? 

Does  the  public  life  of  Jesus  commence  with  the  Trinity 
revealed  at  his  baptism,  and  close  with  the  Trinity  intro- 
duced into  the  form  of  baptism  for  all  nations  ? 

Does  the  prophet  Zechariah  teach  us  concerning,  first, 
the  Lord  who  brings  forth  his  servant  the  Branch; 
secondly,  the  Branch  or  the  stone  which  the  Lord  en- 
graves with  seven  eyes,  which  are  his  own  eyes ;  and 
thirdly,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  ? 

Does  Ezekiel  teach  us  concerning,  first,  the  Lord ; 
secondly,  David,  who  will  be  the  king  of  Israel  forever ; 
and  thirdly,  the  Holy  Spirit  ? 

Does  Isaiah  teach  us  concerning,  first,  the  Lord ; 
secondly,  the  Branch  of  David  ;  and  thirdly,  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  who  will  rest  on  this  Branch  ? 

What  are  the  titles  given  to  this  Branch  of  David  in 
Isaiah  ix.  6,  7  ? 

What  is  the  dignity  of  the  throne  of  David  as  exhibited 
in  this  ninth  chapter  of  Isaiah  ? 

Mention  the  three  parts  in  the  benediction  which  was 
given  to  the  priests  to  be  pronounced  on  the  congregation 
of  Israel. 

Were  these  three  benedictions  essentially  one  benedic- 
tion ?  Did  the  one  benediction  separate  itself  into  three, 
and  did  the  three  unite  in  one  ? 

May  the  benediction,  therefore,  which  the  people  re- 
ceived from  Aaron's  sons,  be  called  the  triune  benediction? 

Has  unitarianism  gone  forth  to  the  world  from  Arabia 
rather  than  from  Judea  ? 

Has  Mohammed  been  the  greatest  prophet  of  unita- 
rianism that  has  ever  risen  in  the  world  ? 


QUESTIONS.  249 

Are  more  than  one  hundred  millions  at  this  day  his 
most  rigidly  unitarian  disciples? 

Is  the  ring  of  unitarianism  more  clear  in  the  Koran 
than  in  either  the  Jewish  or  the  Christian  Scriptures  ? 

Could  the  temple  of  Solomon  ever  stand  more  firmly 
on  unitarian  ground  than  the  mosque  of  Omar  has  been 
standing  for  a  thousand  years? 

If  Ishmael  was  that  son  of  Abraham  in  whom  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed,  and  if  this  prom- 
ised blessing  has  already  come,  has  it  come  in  unita- 
rianism ? 

If  Isaac  was  that  son  of  Abraham  in  whom  all  the  fami- 
lies of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed,  and  if  this  promised 
blessing  has  already  come,  must  it  be  in  trinitarianism 
as  taught  in  the  New  Testament  ? 

Is  the  mosque  of  Omar  a  heathen  institution  ? 

Does  the  Lord  who  dwelt  between  the  cherubim  recog- 
nize the  worship  in  that  mosque  as  having  been  appointed 
by  himself? 

Is  Arabia,  even  if  all  its  sands  were  changed  into  gold, 
equal  to  Judea  ? 

Does  the  Koran  teach  the  miraculous  conception  of 
Jesus,  while  it  inculcates  the  most  decided  rejection  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ? 

Does  it  enjoin  a  high  respect  for  Jesus  as  the  son  of 
Mary  by  a  miracle,  while  it  condemns  in  the  strongest 
language  the  tenet  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  ? 

Do  some  Unitarians  of  our  country  admit  that  Jesus 
was  the  son  of  David  by  a  miracle,  while  they  deny  the 
Son  of  God  ?  and  ought  these  two  points  always  to  be 
kept  separate  in  the  discussion  of  the  subject,  as  they  are 
kept  separate  in  the  Koran  ? 


250  QUESTIONS. 


LETTER    VI. 


What  distinction  docs  Aben  Ezra  make  between  Ehyeh 
asher  Ehyeh  and  Jehovah  ? 

Repeat  the  admirable  text  which  Aben  Ezra  supplies 
for  a  discourse  on  the  Trinity. 

Why  does  Aben  Ezra  mark  each  of  these  three  names 
as  a  slum  hd'etsem,  name  of  the  essence,  proper  noun  ? 
and  what  is  his  distinction  between  such  a  noun  and  an 
appellative? 

Does  heathenism  exhibit  a  characteristic  consistency  in 
transferring  a  trinity  to  the  head  of  the  serpent? 

What  is  your  success  in  finding  the  biblical  Trinity 
among  the  gods  and  goddesses  of  Greece  ? 

Or  in  finding  it  in  ancient  Egypt  ? 

Or  in  finding  it  in  the  Hindoo  system? 

Refer  to  some  texts  proving  that  faith  finds  the  im- 
movable foundation  on  which  it  rests,  in  Jah. 

Refer  to  some  texts  proving  that  hope  finds  its  guiding 
luminary  in  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh,  I-ivill-be-that-I-will-bc. 

Will  you  illustrate  the  dismal  chasm  in  religion,  if  it 
consists  of  faith  and  hope,  without  love  in  the  centre? 

How  would  you  illustrate  the  chasm  in  Jewish  theology 
if  it  holds  to  Jah  and  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh,  and  leaves  out 
the  Beloved  from  the  centre  ? 

What  is  taught  in  the  Pentateuch  concerning  the  Be- 
loved ? 

In  the  prophetical  books? 

In  the  Hagiographa? 

Repeat  some  verses  from  the  New  Testament  showing 
that  the  Father,  as  the  foundation  of  faith,  is  the  same 
with  Jah. 

Repeat  some  verses  from  the  New  Testament  showing 


QUESTIONS.  251 

that  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  guiding  luminary  of  our  hope, 
is  the  same  as  Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh. 

Repeat  some  verses  from  the  New  Testament  confirma- 
tory of  the  view  that  Jesus  and  the  Beloved  of  Pentateuch, 
prophets,  and  Hagiographa  are  the  same  Divine  person. 

Is  the  work  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  one  sense,  a  finished 
work  in  the  sinner's  justification,  while  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  lies  in  the  future  ? 

What  are  your  views  of  that  love  which  unites  our  souls 
to  the  Beloved  ? 

How  is  it  distinguished  from  all  those  kinds  of  love 
which  belong  to  the  ordinary  development  of  our  selfish 
nature  ? 

What  outward  fruit  does  this  holy  love  produce  ? 

Should  Christianity  be  condemned,  because  idolatry 
and  prayers  to  the  Virgin,  and  tyranny,  have  had  a  place 
in  the  Church  of  Rome  ? 


LETTER    VII. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  the  first  Divine  name 
that  occurs  the  Greek  word  Theos  (God)  ? 

Is  this  word  of  the  singular  number  and  appropriated 
to  the  one  living  and  true  God,  like  the  word  God  in  the 
English  Bible  ? 

Would  its  plural  be  as  inadmissible  in  the  first  verse 
of  this  epistle  as  the  word  Gods  would  be  in  the  English 
Bible? 

Does  its  plural  stand  for  false  deities,  very  much  as  our 
God  means  the  one  living  and  true  God,  but  the  plural, 
gods,  stands  for  false  deities  ? 

Is  the  second  Divine  name  in  this  epistle  found  to  be 
"Son  of  God"? 


252  QUESTIONS. 

What  are  the  other  denominations  annexed  to  the  Son 
of  God  ? 

That  the  Messiah  as  the  Son  of  God  is  superior  to  the 
angels  as  the  sons  of  God, — does  the  epistle  undertake  to 
prove  this  point  ? 

That  the  Messiah  as  Elohim  or  God  is  superior  to  the 
angels  who  also  are  called  Elohim, — does  the  epistle 
undertake  to  prove  this  point? 

How  many  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  are 
wrought  into  the  argument  of  the  first  chapter  of  this 
epistle  ? 

How  many  of  these  seven  quotations  are  applied  to  the 
Messiah  ? 

How  many  are  applied  to  the  angels? 

How  many  are  applied  to  God  the  Creator? 

What  is  the  first  quoted  v'erse  applied  to  the  Messiah, 
and  where  is  it  found  ? 

What  is  the  second  quoted  verse  applied  to  the  Mes- 
siah, and  where  is  it  found  ? 

What  is  the  third  quoted  verse  applied  to  the  Messiah, 
and  where  is  it  found? 

What  is  the  fourth  quoted  verse  applied  to  the  Messiah, 
and  where  is  it  found  ? 

What  is  the  first  verse  which  points  to  the  place  which 
angels  fill^  and  where  is  it  found  ? 

What  is  the  second  verse  which  points  to  the  place 
which  angels  fill,  and  where  is  it  found  ? 

What  is  the  remaining  quoted  verse  which  brings  to 
view  God  the  Creator,  and  where  is  its  place  in  the  Old 
Testament  ? 

Can  the  idea  be  found  in  the  Septuagint  of  the  Son  of 
God  whose  son^Jiip  was  earlier  than  the  womb  whence  the 
morning  star  has  come? 

Is  the  Messiah  sometimes   a  complex   person    in    the 


QUESTIONS.  253 

Bible,  standing  for  both  the  greatest  one  among  the  sons 
of  David  and  other  sons  of  David  with  him  ? 

Does  the  Messiah  present  this  complex  form  in  the 
chapter  of  the  second  book  of  Samuel  which  contains  the 
verse,  "I  will  be  to  him  a  father,  and  he  shall  be  to  me 
a  son"  ? 

Is  the  serpent  that  received  the  malediction  from  the 
Lord  in  the  garden  a  similar  complex  person  ?  does  that 
malediction  fall  on  the  original  and  morally  responsible 
liar  and  on  animals  nominally  associated  with  him? 

Where  it  is  said  that  Solomon  should  sit  on  an  ever- 
lasting throne,  does  the  epithet  everlasting  belong  to  it 
only  as  being  the  throne  of  the  Messiah  ? 

If  Solomon  is  separated  from  the  Messiah,  has  his 
throne  fallen  as  completely  as  the  throne  of  the  Caesars  ? 

Where  is  it  declared  that  the  throne  of  the  Messiah  will 
last  for  eve.r  and  ever  ? 

Will  the  heavens  themselves  perish,  and  be  rolled 
together  like  a  scroll  and  be  cast  away  as  useless  ? 

Will  the  throne  of  the  Messiah  perish,  or  be  rolled 
together  like  a  scroll  and  be  cast  away  as  useless  ? 

Is  the  throne  of  the  Messiah,  therefore,  above  the 
heavens  ? 

Are  the  four  quotations  referring  to  the  Messiah  the 
centre  of  the  argument  in  this  chapter?  and  do  the  two 
quotations  referring  to  the  angels  stand  on  one  side,  and 
is  the  quotation  referring  to  God  the  Father  placed  on 
the  other  side,  to  send  forth  light  from  the  opposite  sides 
on  the  central  argument  ? 

Is  the  testimony  concerning  the  Messiah  strengthened 
by  what  is  said  on  one  side  concerning  the  angels,  and  by 
what  is  said  on  the  other  side  concerning  the  Creator  ? 

W^hat  definition  is  given  of  the  baptismal  order  of  the 
Trinity  and  the  tetragrammatic  order? 


254  QUESTIONS. 

Is  the  Son  of  God  the  centre  in  each  order? 

Give  some  instances  in  the  New  Testament  where  the 
order  is  the  tetragrammatic, — that  is,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Ehyeh  asher  Ehyeh,  is  placed  first,  the  Son  of  God,  Jehovah, 
fills  the  centre,  and  the  Father,  Jah,  is  placed  last. 

Describe  the  impressive  instance  of  this  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Revelation. 

Describe  how  the  tetragrammatic  order  is  imprinted  on 
the  whole  face  of  the  Revelation  :  first,  the  Holy  Ghost 
being  prominent  in  the  epistles  to  the  seven  churches  ; 
secondly,  the  Lamb  appearing  at  the  opening  of  all  the 
seven  seals  ;  and  thirdly,  the  angel's  oath  at  the  end  of 
time  being  in  the  name  of  Him  who  hath  created  all 
things,  and  Jah  being  the  word  so  prominent  in  the 
triumphing  voices  of  the  angels  over  the  overthrow  of  the 
hosts  of  enemies,  the  smoke  of  whose  torment  ascendeth 
up  for  ever  and  ever. 

LETTER    VIIL 

Was  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  written  while  the  Jew- 
ish worship  still  existed  at  the  temple  ? 

Does  the  name  Son  of  God,  in  this  epistle,  denote  an 
office  or  an  honor  which  the  Messiah  has  received,  or 
does  it  occur  as  a  name  naturally  belonging  to  him? 

What  are  the  two  texts  found  in  the  Psalms  which  sup- 
ply the  foundation  for  the  whole  epistle  ? 

If  the  view  of  Jesus  as  the  high  priest  is  found  correct, 
must  the  view  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  be  accepted 
with  it  ? 

If  the  epistle  is  inspired,  must  its  view  of  the  Son  of 
God  be  received  as  the  true  view? 

Does  it  purport  to  be  the  exponent  of  ancient  Judaism? 

Does  it  interpret  that  rest  into  which  God  entered  at 


QUESTIONS.  255 

the  end  of  the  six  days  of  creation  as  being  the  same  holy 
rest  into  which  believers  now  enter? 

Does  a  danger  exist  now  that  the  oath  of  the  Lord  may 
shut  us  out  of  his  rest  ? 

How  is  Melchizedek  interpreted  as  a  type  of  the  Mes- 
siah ? 

Does  the  oath  of  the  Lord  make  the  Messiah  a  priest 
forever  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek  ? 

Is  there  any  event  in  the  life  of  David,  or  in  the  lives  of 
any  of  his  sons,  except  the  Messiah,  in  which  the  sublime 
oath  of  the  Lord  can  be  found,  that  he  should  be  a  priest 
forever,  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek  ? 

Were  the  priests  in  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  not  in  the 
tribe  of  Judah  to  which  David  belonged  ? 

Does  a  priest  established  by  the  oath  of  the  Lord,  and 
according  to  the  order  of  Melchizedek,  evidently  mean 
a  priest  of  the  highest  dignity? 

Can  you  describe  the  doings  of  the  high  priest  on  the 
annual  day  of  atonement,  the  only  day  in  the  year  when 
the  high  priest  entered  into  the  holy  of  holies? 

Could  he  enter  there  on  that  day  without  blood  ? 

Was  the  blood  of  the  sin-offering  the  only  blood  that 
could  be  carried  into  the  holy  of  holies? 

Had  the  high  priest,  on  this  great  day  of  atonement, 
one  sin-offering  for  himself  and  another  sin-offering  for 
the  people? 

Was  the  blood  of  both  these  sin-offerings  carried  into 
the  holy  of  holies  and  sprinkled  directly  in  front  of  the 
mercy-seat  ? 

What  was  the  number  of  the  motions  of  the  high  priest's 
finger  in  sprinkling  the  blood  of  these  two  sin-offerings  in 
the  holy  of  holies? 

Was  the  same  blood  also  sprinkled  on  the  holy  veil  on 
the  side  next  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle? 


256  QUESTIONS. 

Was  the  golden  altar  sprinkled  seven  times  with  blood, 
at  the  same  time? 

Was  one-half  of  the  sin-offering  for  the  people  sent 
away,  as  a  living  goat,  into  the  wilderness? 

What  were  the  lines  separating  the  sin-offering,  the 
burnt-offering,  and  the  peace-offering? 

Was  the  sin-offering  eminently  the  Mosaic  oblation  ? 

Did  the  burnt-offering  exist  among  the  patriarchs  ? 

Is  the  burnt-offering  the  only  one  mentioned  in 
Job? 

How  does  the  Christian  find  the  sin-offering  in  Jesus? 

How  does  he  find  the  burnt-offering  ? 

How  does  he  find  the  peace-offering  ? 

Has  he  one  high  priest  in  the  place  of  the  many  high 
priests  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  ? 

Has  he  one  oblation  in  the  place  of  the  many  oblations 
on  the  Jewish  altar  ? 

Has  he  one  perfect  atonement  in  the  place  of  the  thou- 
sands of  shadowy  atonements  by  blood,  from  the  time  of 
Moses  to  the  time  of  the  Herods  ? 

Does  Jesus  live  perpetually  as  high  priest  ? 

Was  the  Messiah  the  heir  of  the  Jewish  church  ? 

Has  Jesus  appointed  his  disciples  the  heirs  of  an  ever- 
lasting kingdom  ? 

Was  there  ever  one  year  while  either  the  tabernacle  or 
the  temple  was  standing,  when  repentance  and  tears,  fast- 
ing, confession,  prayer,  reformation,  and  help  for  the 
poor  made  the  atonement  for  sin  without  any  shedding 
of  blood  ? 

Was  it  a  settled  principle  in  the  Jewish  church  that  the 
essence  of  the  atonement  was  in  the  blood? 

Was  there  scarcely  any  remission  of  sin  or  any  sin- 
offering  without  blood  ? 

What  prophet  speaks  of  a  new  covenant  which  should 


QUESTIONS.  257 

take  the  place  of  the  old  covenant  that  was  made  with  the 
people  as  they  were  coming  from  Egypt  ? 

What  psalm  speaks  of  sin-offerings  and  burnt-offerings 
as  laid  aside,  and  the  execution  of  the  will  of  God  as  sup- 
plying their  place? 

Must  the  sanctification  of  the  people  of  God  now  be 
sought  in  this  executed  will  of  God  by  means  of  the  body 
that  has  been  prepared,  rather  than  in  the  oblation  of 
animals  as  sin-offerings  and  burnt-offerings? 

How  is  faith  defined  in  the  eleventh  chapter? 

Are  the  patriarchs  seen  in  this  epistle  as  earnest  seekers 
of  a  blessed  immortality  ? 

What  is  the  Mount  Zion  of  which  the  Christian  be- 
lieves himself  to  be  a  citizen? 

What  is  the  character  of  that  faith  which  makes  the 
restoration  of  the  literal  Jerusalem  the  principal  object 
of  its  hopeful  vision  ? 

What  is  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  was  written  when  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem was  seen  to  be  close  at  hand,  yet  no  mention  is 
made  of  a  restoration  ? 

Is  the  failure  of  the  restoration  a  remarkable  part  of  the 
history  of  Julian  the  Apostate? 

Where  was  the  epistle  written  ? 

How  does  its  view  of  the  Mosaic  institutions  differ 
from  the  elucidation  of  the  same  subject  by  Josephus, 
written  in  Rome  several  years  afterwards? 

Is  it  the  sublimer  view  of  the  Mosaic  ritual  that  it  was 
a  prophecy  awaiting  a  fulfillment  in  a  distant  age  ?  and  is 
this  view  more  likely  to  be  the  true  view? 

How  and  where  is  the  Christian  directed  to  find  in  the 
tabernacle  of  Moses  an  outline  of  good  and  great  things 
to  come,  and  in  the  actual  worship  a  delineation  ? 


258  QUESTIONS. 


LETTER    IX. 

In  a  general  review  of  this  discussion,  what  must  be 
mentioned  as  the  first  argument  ? 

The  second  argument? 

The  third  argument  ? 

The  fourth  argument  ? 

The  fifth  argument  ? 

The  sixth  argument  ? 

The  seventh  argument? 

The  eighth  argument? 

The  ninth  argument? 

The  tenth  argument  ? 

Tlie  eleventh  argument  ? 

The  twelfth  argument  ? 

The  thirteenth  argument? 

How  is  the  objection  met  that  the  plural  Divine  names 
are  \\\q  plm-als  of  majesty  ? 

Or  the  objection  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  con- 
tradicts reason  ? 

Or  the  objection  that  the  doctrine  has  no  analogy  in 
nature  ? 

Or  the  objection  that  the  day  is  promised  when  Jehovah 
will  be  one  and  his  name  one? 


LETTER    X. 

Is  the  Spirit  of  God  ever  found  to  be  an  agent  com- 
pletely subduing  the  human  spirit,  subverting  the  wicked 
will  of  man,  displacing  reason  and  substituting  a  high 
order  of  insanity,  compelling  the  tongue  to  utter  things 
which  the  will  had  determined  not  to  utter,  suspending 


QUESTIONS.  259 

the  external  senses  and  removing  all  consciousness  of  the 
condition  of  the  prostrate  body  ? 

What  works  are  ascribed  to  the  Spirit  of  God  ? 

Must  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  the  word  of  the 
Lord  stand  as  capital  parts  in  the  confession  of  faith  for 
Judaism  ? 

Must  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  the  word  of  the  Lord 
be  united  in  the  creed  of  the  seed  of  Israel  and  the  seed's 
seed  of  Israel,  forever  ? 

Does  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  without  the  word  or  the 
Scriptures,  make  Judaism  a  kind  of  heathenish  fanaticism  ? 

Does  the  written  and  read  word  of  the  Lord,  without 
the  Spirit,  make  Judaism  the  most  grotesque  rationalism  ? 

Is  the  honest  inquiry  after  Divine  and  holy  truth  im- 
possible except  where  the  Spirit  of  God  diffuses  his  influ- 
ence on  the  heart  ? 

Shall  tradition  be  substituted  for  the  Holy  Spirit  as  an 
interpreter  of  the  Scriptures  ? 

Shall  the  church  be  substituted  for  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
the  spiritual  guide  ? 

Shall  an  infallible  pope  be  substituted  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  the  guide  to  heaven? 

Can  human  reason  be  permitted  to  occupy  the  place  of 
the  Holy  Spirit? 

Are  all  doubters,  and  especially  the  most  bewildered, 
encouraged  to  pray  that  the  Holy  Spirit  may  bring  them 
a  light  to  lead  them  out  of  darkness  ? 

What  is  the  name  of  the  great  prophet  whose  heart 
glowed  with  the  wish  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets,  and  "  that  the  Lord  would  put  his  spirit  upon 
them"? 


26o  QUESTIONS. 


APPENDIX. 

State  some  evidences  of  the  patriarchal  antiquity  of 
the  book  of  Job. 

Did  the  answer  of  the  Lord  to  Job  from  the  whirlwind 
fail  to  give  the  true  reason  of  the  afflictions  of  Job  ? 

What  are  we  especially  taught  by  this  failure  ? 

Does  the  book  of  Job  demonstrate  the  need  of  a  super- 
natural revelation  ? 

Might  it  have  been  added  to  the  enumeration,  as  the 
fifteenth  argument,  that  if  the  heathen  had  made  the  man 
of  Uz  their  supreme  and  infallible  guide,  and  his  book 
their  most  holy  book,  in  the  time  prior  to  Mohammed, 
they  would  have  had  the  best  guide  to  a  pure  unitarian 
religion  ?  and  that  they  learned  the  trinitarian  doctrine 
only  by  turning  away  from  Arabia  to  Judea  and  Nazareth, 
and  by  saying  to  the  Jews,  We  will  follow  you,  for  we 
know  that  God  is  with  you  ? 


WE    PASS    AWAY! 

It  was  some  months  after  the  manuscript  of  the  pre- 
ceding volume  had  gone  into  the  publishers'  hands,  when, 
on  Saturday,  July  26,  1873,  I  received  the  Israelite,  of 
Cincinnati,  and  found  the  following  : 

"Rev.  Dr.  Aaron  Guinzburg  (Guenzburg)  died  Saturday 
last,  at  his  residence  in  Boston,  surrounded  by  his  family 
and  friends.  He  was  truly  a  good  man.  In  all  relations 
of  public  life,  as  a  public  man,  a  rabbi,  a  father,  a  spouse, 
or  a  neighbor,  this  one  beautiful  feature  of  genuine  good- 
ness endeared  him  to  everybody,  and  makes  his  loss  so 
much  more  grievous  to  all  who  have  known  him." 

Accordingly,  those  hands  are  now  in  the  grave  which 
were  supposed  to  be  among  the  first  that  would  receive 
this  volume  from  the  press.  It  is  probable  that  if  he  bad 
seen  this  volume  he  would  have  wished  it  to  be  known  to 
the  public  that  the  proposition  to  hold  this  discussion  with 
me  did  not  originate  with  him.  His  able  articles  under  the 
title  "  The  Morality  of  Christiajiity  compared  with  that  of 
Judaisni'^  had  been  published.  This  was  followed  by 
some  letters  passing  between  us  through  the  newspapers, 
without  any  special  reference  to  controverted  points. 
Finally,  I  proposed  that  each  of  us  should  write  a  certain 
number  of  letters  on  imitarianism,  to  be  published  in  two 
prominent  newspapers,  one  Jewish  and  the  other  Chris- 
tian. Whether,  if  he  had  lived  to  see  this  volume,  it  would 
have  been  his  wish  to  give  the  public  a  similar  volume  of 

261 


262  ^V£   PASS  AlVAY. 

letters  on  the  other  side  of  the  question,  is  a  question  on 
which  I  am  not  able  to  form  an  opinion. 

I  append  two  notices  of  his  death,  from  Jewish  papers : 

From  '■'■The  yewish  ]\Iessenger.'''' 

Rev.  Dr.  A.  Guinzburg,  for  the  last  few  years  of  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  and  lately  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  died  in  the 
former  city  on  Sunday  last,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his 
age.  Dr.  Guinzburg  was  a  native  of  Prague,  Bohemia, 
and  from  his  earliest  youth  dedicated  his  life  to  the  study 
of  the  Talmud  and  Hebrew  lore,  without  neglecting 
modern  sciences.  After  he  had  officiated  as  rabbi  and 
preacher  for  some  years  at  Libochowitz,  Bohemia,  he 
came  to  this  country  in  the  year  1849,  and  soon  after  his 
arrival  received  a  call  as  minister  of  a  congregation  at 
Baltimore.  He  was  at  one  time  a  professor  in  the  New- 
ton University  and  Maryland  Institute  of  Baltimore. 
During  the  war  he  changed  his  residence  for  Rochester, 
where  he  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  minister.  His  last 
years  he  spent  in  private,  not,  however,  without  taking  the 
liveliest  interest  in  all  Jewish  affairs;  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  president  of  the  Warren  Street  Synagogue 
at  Boston.  Always  alive  to  the  welfare  of  Judaism,  he 
used  his  poweriil  pen  against  any  attack  on  his  religion 
or  nation,  and  was  a  diligent  contributor  to  the  Jewish 
press.  Many  abusers  of  the  Jewish  religion  have  found  Jn 
him  an  able  opponent,  who  would  never  rest  when  a  de- 
fense of  his  principles  was  thought  necessary.  He  enjoyed 
the  higliest  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him,  and  a  large  cir- 
cle of  friends  lament  his  early  demise.  He  had  also  been 
for  many  years  connected  with  the  Free  Masons  and  Odd- 
Fellows.  Rev.  Dr.  Huebsch,  of  this  city,  officiated  at  his 
funeral  on  Tuesday  last.  The  deceased  leaves  a  wife  and 
nine  children. 


WE   PASS  A  IV AY.  263 

Fro  1/1  "  T/ie  Hebreui  Leader.^'' 

ORATION    DELIVERED  AT  THE  FUNERAL  OF    REV.   DR.   GUINZ- 

BURG,  ON   JULY    2  2, 

BY    REV.    DR.    FALK   VIDAVER. 

"The  law  of  truth  was  in  his  mouth,  and  iniquity  was 
not  found  on  his  lips  ;  he  walked  with  me  in  peace  and 
equity,  and  did  turn  away  many  from  iniquity."  Malachi 
ii.  6. 

These  profound  words  of  the  Divine  prophet  describe 
vividly  the  character  of  our  highly  revered  and  esteemed 
rabbi  and  godly  priest,  around  whose  corpse  we  are  now 
standing. 

The  law  of  truth  was  in  his  mouth.  How  many  are 
there  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  abroad,  who  longed 
for  his  teachings  and  desired  to  quench  their  spiritual 
thirst  for  knowledge  by  the  water  of  his  truthful  instruc- 
tions !  How  many  found  a  new  life  in  the  edifying  words 
of  his  mouth  !  What  sad  and  sorrowful  tidings  will  the 
departure  of  this  rabbi  be  unto  them  !  Still  more  we, 
who  had  for  so  long  a  time  enjoyed  the  presence  of  this 
honorable  teacher  and  heard  the  law  of  truth  from  his 
mouth,  how  must  our  hearts  break  and  our  eyes  shed 
tears  at  the  loss  of  him  !  Indeed,  my  hearers,  the  wound 
which  has  been  produced  among  the  learned  men  by  his 
demise  is  incurable,  as  our  sages  wisely  remark:  "These 
tears  shall  not  be  mended  whenever  a  person  tears  his 
garment  in  mourning  for  his  father  and  mother,  for  a  rabbi 
and  teacher  in  Israel,  and  for  the  holy  roll  of  the  five 
books  of  Moses  which  has  been  consumed  by  fire." 

Truly,  my  hearers,  the  loss  of  them  is  irreparable ; 
our  broken  and  dejected  hearts  cannot  be  healed  and  re- 
stored to  their  former  strength,  after  having  lost  the  foun- 
tain of  their  spiritual  power,  the  truthful  instructions  of 
our  parents  and  rabbis. 


264  WE   PASS  AWAY. 

When  the  invisible  hand  of  cruel  death  snatches  away 
the  crown  of  a  family,  the  dear  father  or  the  loving 
mother,  then  the  hearts  of  the  survivors  are  overfilled 
with  grief  and  sorrow.  Yet  has  the  providence  of  the 
Almighty  created  a  healing  balm  for  their  pain,  that  is, 
forgetfulness ;  in  the  course  of  time  their  sadness  and 
grief  descend  into  the  sea  of  oblivion  and  the  sun  of 
serenity  disperses  the  dark  clouds  of  their  affliction.  But 
if  there  occurs  a  calamity  like  this,  if  a  dear  father,  lov- 
ing husband  and  at  the  same  time  a  rabbi  and  teacher  in 
Israel  is  torn  from  the  bosom  of  his  tender  wife  and  be- 
loved children  and  from  the  midst  of  his  adherents,  pupils 
and  friends,  then  is  there  a  triple  loss.  Although  his 
faithful  wife  and  children  whose  hearts  break  now  to  see 
themselves  bereft  of  their  most  valuable  ornament,  al- 
though they  may  in  the  course  of  time  be  comforted  and 
calmed,  yet  his  children  whom  he  educated  spiritually 
by  nourishing  them  with  heavenly  food  of  virtue  and 
knowledge, — as  our  sages  say,  "  The  teacher  may  be  named 
father,  because  he  brings  his  pupil  into  a  life  of  virtue 
and  faith," — those  children  will  never  forget  him. 

This  rabbi,  around  whose  lifeless  body  we  are  standing, 
was  a  very  spiritual  father ;  he  instilled  into  the  hearts  of 
many  true  belief  in  God  and  virtue  ;  he  reconciled  many 
with  our  heavenly  Father;  he  preached  the  words  of  God 
in  many  congregations  and  proclaimed  the  truth  publicly. 
Also  here  in  Boston,  in  our  largest  congregation,  ''Ohabi 
Shalom,"  he  taught  the  holy  religion  and  knowledge. 
Such  a  dear  father  cannot  be  forgotten ;  his  name  is  en- 
graved in  indelible  characters  upon  the  hearts  of  his  pupils 
and  friends. 

And  iniquity  was  not  found  on  his  lips;  that,  my  hearers, 
our  rabbi  proved  in  the  days  of  his  illness.  He  was  not 
irritated  by  his  great  pain  and  affliction ;    in  the  midst 


WE    PASS  AWAY.  265 

of  his  sufferings  and  chastisements  he  complained  not,  but 
endured  it  patiently  and  laid  the  burden  of  his  woes  at 
the  feet  of  our  heavenly  Father.  He  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  the  psalmist  when  he  says,  "Be  merciful  unto 
me,  O  God,  be  merciful  unto  me,  for  my  soul  trusteth  in 
thee;  and  under  the  shadow  of  thy  wings  be  my  refuge 
until  this  calamity  is  overpast." 

Now,  my  hearers,  let  us  honor  the  deceased  rabbi  by 
following  his  mode  of  life  ;  let  us,  too,  have  in  our  mouth 
only  the  law  of  truth,  and  iniquity  shall  never  be  found 
on  our  lips  ;  let  us,  too,  live  in  peace  and  equity  with 
each  other,  and  by  so  doing  we  shall  show  respect  to  our 
rabbi  and  teacher.  And  for  the  welfare  of  his  soul  let  us 
pray. 

O  God  most  high,  spread  thy  wings  of  love  and  care 
over  the  soul  of  our  dear  rabbi ;  lead  thou  him  through 
the  gloomy  night  into  the  refulgent  glory  of  salvation ; 
take  him  to  the  bosom  of  thy  fatherly  mercy,  and  be  his 
shield  and  protection.  May  he  enjoy  heavenly  delight  in 
thy  presence,  and  may  his  prayers,  which  he  will  ever 
pour  out  before  thy  throne  for  the  happiness  of  his  dear 
ones  whom  he  left  on  earth,  and  to  whom  he  is  linked 
with  inseparable  chains,  be  heard.  May  the  words  of  my 
mouth  be  acceptable  before  thee,  O  Lord.     Amen. 


Tin-:   END, 


Date  Due 


'  ^^ 


mm. 


